


stay awhile, stay here with me

by melondrops (daybreakfiction)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Choose Your Own Ending, Established Relationship, M/M, This is just a mess, official tags end here, some time skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-02-10 19:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18667276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daybreakfiction/pseuds/melondrops
Summary: After dating for almost four years, Renjun finally invites Jeno on a trip to China to meet his family.However, when conflicts arise, Renjun finds himself having to make a choice that could possibly change everything.





	1. i like me better when i'm with you

**Author's Note:**

> i have many things to say in this note but can i just say this first...  
> this was supposed to be for renjun's bday but i couldn't finish it in time bc of school  
> then this was supposed to be for jeno's bday but i had a complete breakdown and never finished it
> 
> also the summary is really bad i just didn't wanna spoil anything
> 
> so here! a present for the beginning of may
> 
> pls just excuse my horrible writing i have read over it too many times and i miss over all of my spelling mistakes hehe  
> also choose ur own ending or do both! live ur life 
> 
> thank u to people that have helped me with this fic... u know who u r <3

On a scale from one to ten, if anyone were to ask Lee Jeno how much he adored his boyfriend, Huang Renjun, he would say a definite twenty each time.  

He stared lovingly at his boyfriend, a wide smile growing on his lips as Renjun struggled to reach a book on the top shelf. They were at their university library, studying for their final exams before their winter break. Renjun was majoring in fashion design with a minor in modern art and Jeno was majoring in engineering. They were a strange match, but things worked out for their class schedules.  

“Jeno, stop smiling like a creep and help me get this book down, please.” Renjun said after a few more failed attempts of reaching the book. Jeno stood up from his chair at the table they were using and made his way over to Renjun, smile still wide on his face. He carefully reached over Renjun to grab the book, leaning down to press a quick kiss on Renjun’s forehead, causing his boyfriend to let out a surprise yelp.  

“You’re so short.” Jeno teased, knowing that his boyfriend wasn’t very fond of public displays of affection while in the library. He liked to call the library his sanctuary, since it was one of the few places he could study in peace. It was the only place where Jeno wouldn’t throw himself all over Renjun, because he also tried his best to concentrate on studying when at the library. 

“Shut up.” Renjun glared up at Jeno before stomping on his foot. Jeno winced in pain, leaning against the bookshelf to hold himself up as Renjun walked back over to their table.  

To others, it may look as if Renjun and Jeno weren’t in a good relationship with each other, but it was actually the exact opposite. The two had been dating for almost four years now after having met in their freshman year of college. They had only known each other for about two months before Jeno made a move and asked the older boy on a date, but ever since then the two have been inseparable. Even though they had differing majors and did not share any classes with each other, they made the time to see one another. During their freshman and sophomore years, Jeno and Renjun would spend a few nights at the other’s dorm room, finding comfort with sleeping closer to each other. Then at the start of their junior year, Renjun had made the suggestion that the two could live together, off-campus at an apartment that wasn’t too far from their school. Apparently, the two wouldn’t have to worry about rent. Renjun had mentioned that his mother was taking care of the payments of the roomy, two-bedroom apartment.  

Jeno wanted to thank Renjun’s mother, but he never had the chance. Renjun’s mother never visited him and whenever she called, Renjun would always step out of the room to talk to her.  

Renjun had come to Korea from China to attend the university, so Jeno had a feeling that Renjun’s mother was still in China. However, it was strange how Renjun and his mother didn’t videochat with each other at all. Jeno had brought up the matter before, but his boyfriend just brushed it off saying that his mother wasn’t that great with technology.  

That didn’t stop Jeno from wanting to meet Renjun’s family though. 

Renjun had already met Jeno’s parents and younger sister. During the holidays, Renjun would remain in Korea for some reason, so naturally Jeno had invited him to his home each and every time. His parents loved him and marveled at how well Renjun could speak Korean despite it not being his first language. His younger sister definitely had a crush on Renjun, and she would often try to get his attention. 

Everything was great with Renjun.

But Jeno was still plagued with thoughts that he may not be good enough for Renjun’s family, which was why Renjun was keeping them away. 

Renjun rarely spoke about his family to Jeno. He did, however, mention a few cousins in his family that were quite interesting.  

First, there was the youngest cousin in the family, Zhong Chenle. Renjun had explained that he and Chenle were actually second cousins, because their mothers were cousins. Chenle was a few years younger than Renjun and Jeno. He was supposed to start attending a university in China last year, but something had happened, and somehow Chenle was now studying in America. He was somewhere in California, if Jeno remembered correctly. Chenle’s parents had given Chenle all of the responsibility of taking care of his applications for universities because they were so sure that he was going to attend their alma mater.  

Chenle tricked his parents and took off for America instead.  

The younger boy would often videochat with Renjun, speaking in fast Mandarin with English phrases thrown in. Renjun didn’t seem to mind the English, as if he was fluent. Jeno always meant to ask if Renjun could speak English, but it always slipped his mind.  

After Chenle, came another cousin. This time, this particular cousin was older than Renjun and Jeno, however only by one year. Wong Yukhei, also known was Lucas, was Renjun’s cousin, apparently once removed. When still pregnant with Lucas, his mother had ran off to Hong Kong in order to give birth to her son. His father, followed after her and after months of debating, had decided to live in Hong Kong as well. Renjun’s maternal side of the family was from Jilin, China, and immediately disowned Lucas and his parents. However, a few years ago, Renjun’s grandmother, the head of the family, had taken back the disownment, trying to make amends with the family. Lucas, who was only fluent in Cantonese, made an effort to contact Renjun despite the slight language barrier. But again, Renjun seemed to have no problem with speaking Cantonese with Lucas.  

Again, Jeno meant to ask how many language Renjun could speak, but he always forgot to. 

The only other cousin that kept in contact with Renjun was Dong Sicheng, who was Renjun’s first cousin on his father’s side. It was clear that Renjun’s maternal side controlled most of his family, even if they were on his father’s side, so Sicheng was very close with Renjun’s mother and grandmother. Jeno didn’t know much about Sicheng, only that he performed as a dancer in a famous performance hall back in China. Sicheng and Renjun never video called, but rather they were fond of texting each other and sending pictures back and forth. They spoke in Mandarin with each other, so Jeno had a hard time understand the foreign script.  

Jeno could understand very minimal Mandarin after a few lessons with Renjun. They never had the time to pick back up with their lessons.  

Shaking his head, Jeno made his way back to the table he and Renjun were occupying for their study session. Renjun was nose deep in the book, writing down important notes in his trusted notebook. Jeno wasn’t as fond at writing notes (his handwriting was atrocious, so he opted to type his notes instead). He took his seat across from Renjun and resumed reading over his notes, not feeling very worried about the final he was going to take in a few days. It was one of his easier subjects, but he knew that he couldn’t slack off just because he found the subject matter to be a bit easier than others.  

He leaned over and took a glance at Renjun, who was still staring intently into the book Jeno had gotten down for him. It was a pretty sight, in Jeno’s own opinion. Renjun had dark brown hair again, a stark change to the blonde he had sported only a few months ago. His hair had grown out a bit, giving him a more mature look compared to what he had looked like when they first met. The only thing that remained the same were the glasses he occasionally wore whenever he was too lazy to put contacts on. They had round frames and were quite old fashioned, but they suited Renjun well. Everything suited Renjun well. It was probably because he was majoring in fashion design. 

“I can’t study if you’re staring at me like that.” Renjun said, not looking up from his book. Jeno chuckled and turned his attention back to his laptop.  

“Are we still going out for dinner tomorrow night after your final?” Jeno asked, keeping his attention on his laptop as to not distract Renjun from his studying. Renjun had one final left and it was going to be the next day. Jeno’s last final was unfortunately three days away. 

“Mhmm, you promised we would go out.” Renjun replied, finally taking his gaze away from the book. He smiled at Jeno, who naturally smiled back. 

“Alright. We can go out wherever you’d like to go out.” Jeno could never say no to Renjun. Not when he smiled like that. 

Renjun’s smile grew even more before he went back to taking his notes.  

 

. 

 

The next day, after Renjun’s final exam, the two wound up at Renjun’s favorite hot pot restaurant. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, but that didn’t stop Renjun from dragging Jeno to the comfy restaurant that was only a few minutes away from this apartment.  

“Oh, my favorite couple is here!” A waiter announced as soon as they walked inside. 

Jeno and Renjun both smiled at the waiter, their friend Na Jaemin. He was also studying at their university; however, he was majoring in education. The three of them were in the same freshman orientation, which was why they all knew each other.  

“Your regular table isn’t occupied, I’ll be over in a bit to take your order.” Jaemin said, before going off to wait on another table. 

Renjun and Jeno had a particular table they preferred sitting at. Renjun liked the table because of the view because it was by the front of the restaurant, next to the big window that encompassed practically the entire wall. On nights like this, with fresh snow falling to the ground, it was quite pretty.  

The two sat across from each other at the table, already knowing what they were going to order without looking at the menu. Renjun had a small smile on his face as he stared out the window, watching the snow fall. Jeno, being incredibly discreet, quickly took a picture of Renjun and he posted it to all of his social media accounts. Renjun was basically all he ever posted on Instagram. 

“Hey guys, just the regular order, right?” Jaemin said as he approached the table.  

Renjun nodded his head, “You know us best, Jaemin. How were your finals?” 

“A pain in my butt, but it’ll be worth it when I become a teacher.” Jaemin replied before another table called him. He smiled at his friends before returning to his responsibilities as a waiter.  

Jeno laughed, watching his friend walk away. Renjun then cleared his throat, calling for Jeno’s attention. 

“Yes, babe?” Jeno asked, tilting his head and biting back a smile when he saw Renjun blush at the nickname. 

“I have something... important I need to ask you.” Renjun said, his voice becoming softer at the end of his sentence. 

Jeno froze. 

Renjun could either want to talk about two things: breaking up or getting married. Those were the only two things Jeno could think of, but his heart was already beginning to pound loudly in his chest with anticipation.  

“And before you say anything, no I am not breaking up with you.” Renjun continued on, recognizing the look of sheer panic and fear on Jeno’s face. Jeno let out an audible sigh of relief and Renjun could do nothing but roll his eyes. Jeno was a bit dramatic. 

“What did you want to talk about then?” Jeno asked, feeling genuinely curious about what was so important. 

“Come to China with me.” 

If Jeno were drinking anything at that moment, he was sure he would have spit it up right into Renjun’s face. ( _Gross_ , yes, but he had done it once before. Renjun didn’t talk to him for three days after that).  

He stared at Renjun’s with eyes wide and a mouth wide open in shock. Renjun stared back, blankly.  

“W-What did you just say?” Jeno clarified, wanting to make sure he heard Renjun clearly. 

“Come to China with me this semester break.” Renjun repeated a bit louder, making sure his boyfriend heard him loud and clear. 

Before Jeno could even reply and accept, Jaemin had arrived with their food. He set their regular order down on the table before walking away, leaving the two in silence. 

“Injun, you haven’t been back home in so long... Did something happen? Is your family alright?” Jeno asked, watching Renjun start to eat his food. He couldn’t believe how nonchalant Renjun was being about returning home after living away for four years.  

“Sicheng ge is giving his final performance in two weeks. I want to be there for him.” Renjun replied. So it was for Sicheng, not for his mother that made Renjun want to return home.  

“A final performance? But isn’t your cousin still young?” Jeno knew Sicheng was only a few years older than Renjun, meaning he was way too young to retire at his age.  

“It’s a complicated issue, but basically Sicheng ge is leaving China, against the wishes of the elders. They can’t stop him though, since he is not blood related to my mother’s family.” Renjun explained, letting out a soft sigh. Jeno knew that Sicheng meant a lot to Renjun, so this whole ordeal was probably having an effect on Renjun too.  

Jeno nodded his head slowly, taking in all the information, “Does this mean that I’ll also finally be able to meet your mother and your family?”  

“Of course. Sorry it took so long...” Renjun’s voice trailed off, but Jeno could hear the sincerity in his boyfriend’s voice. Four years was a long time for two people to date without meeting one’s family. 

“It’s okay. I’ll always love you.” Jeno said, as a smile grew on his lips. Renjun smiled back at him, nodding his head.  

“I love you too, Jeno.” 

 

. 

 

“You’re finally meeting Renjun’s family?! After all this time?!” A loud voice shrieked, nearing causing Jeno to trip over his own feet. He glared at his companion and was tempted to shove him into the snow. 

“Donghyuck, stop being so loud!” 

“Sorry, Jeno.”  

Lee Donghyuck, Jeno’s same aged cousin, was a student at the same university as Jeno and Renjun. He was majoring in modern art, which was Renjun’s minor, so the two had a few subjects together. Jeno and Donghyuck were only a few months apart, so they had grown up in the same grade since they were children.  

“You can’t blame me for being so shocked though. You two have been dating for almost four years and yet you have yet to meet his family?” Donghyuck started off, staring at the snow falling from the sky. Jeno looked up as well and a snowflake fell in his eye.  

“To be fair, Renjun hasn’t been back to China since he moved here. Plus, his mother has never visited him at all.” Jeno said, defending his boyfriend’s family. He knew Donghyuck meant no harm, but he didn’t want his cousin to think badly of Renjun’s family. 

Donghyuck nodded his head, “Do you anything about Renjun’s mother? He never talks about her.” 

“He just told me her name, but I have no idea what she does.” Jeno replied, thinking back to the day before when Renjun finally told him his mother’s name.  

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow, waiting for Jeno to hurry up and tell him Renjun’s mother’s name. 

“Her name is Yang Lihua. Renjun said she was named after an ancient Chinese empress.” Jeno finally said, once the two arrived to Donghyuck’s dorm building. Jeno was going to study with Donghyuck’s boyfriend, Mark, who was also an engineering student.  

At the sound of Renjun’s mother’s name, Donghyuck stopped right in his tracks. Jeno, who was walking ahead of him, didn’t notice until Donghyuck let out an ungodly loud screech. Turning around quickly, Jeno spotted his cousin with an incredibly surprised look on his face.  

“Renjun’s mother is Yang Lihua?!” Donghyuck screeched, running up to Jeno. The younger grabbed Jeno’s collar, shaking him around.  

Jeno was quite used to Donghyuck’s antics, but something felt different about this reaction.  

“Uh, yes? What’s the big deal?” Jeno questioned, not understand what Donghyuck was trying to say. 

“Yang Lihua, from Jilin, is the greatest designer in China right now! All of her designs are one of a kind and she’s been shown in every fashion week all over the world for like twenty years now!” Donghyuck screeched, again. Jeno winced at the sound before pushing his cousin away from him. 

“What are you saying?”  

“Renjun’s is crazy rich! His mother is one of the most influential people in the  _world_ , Jeno! You’re dating a billionaire!”  

Jeno blinked, letting all of Donghyuck’s words sink in. 

It explained why Renjun was able to afford living abroad, without having to work and part-time jobs... It explained why Renjun and Jeno could live in their apartment, without the stress of having to pay rent. Renjun always had the latest technology, sometimes faster than most people. He was never worried about money.  

So why didn’t Renjun tell Jeno about it all? Why was he hiding his wealth?  

“-no? Jeno?” Donghyuck called, waving his hand in front of Jeno’s face to catch his attention. Jeno blinked once more, smiling apologetically at his cousin for spacing out for so long.  

“Let’s head inside. I think the cold is getting to me.” Jeno said as he started to walk into Donghyuck’s dorm building.  

He had a lot to think about. 

Donghyuck said nothing in reply, following closely behind his cousin. He could tell that Jeno was deep in thought and needed time to think about what he had just learned. Donghyuck only hoped that this would not affect Jeno and Renjun’s relationship in any way. However, he was also curious as to why Renjun never told Jeno about his mother and family.  

“What’s up with you guys?” A voice called, snapping both Jeno and Donghyuck out of their thoughts. The two looked up, spotting Mark waiting by the door to Donghyuck’s room. 

Donghyuck sighed, “Did you forget your key again?” 

“Of course.” Mark grinned, waving at Jeno as he waited for his boyfriend to unlock his door.  

“Why don’t you guys just share a dorm room?” Jeno asked, walking into the room once the door was unlocked. 

The couple shrugged, bringing a smile onto Jeno’s face. The two were probably his favorite couple (after Renjun and himself, of course). 

After a few more minutes of procrastinating, Jeno and Mark finally started to study for their last exam. Renjun already knew that Jeno was going to return home late, so Jeno didn’t have to worry about his boyfriend wondering where he was.  

The engineering students studied for a few hours before deciding that they had done enough studying. Luckily for Jeno, it wasn’t snowing when he left his cousin’s dorm. It was a fifteen minute walk back to his own apartment, which gave him enough time to think about what to say to Renjun when he saw him. 

He wasn’t mad at Renjun, not at all. He just wanted to know why Renjun had hid his mother’s identity for all these years.  

But then again, Jeno had to remind himself that he was dating Renjun,  _not_ Renjun’s mother. Her identity shouldn’t matter to Jeno, unless she were to forbid Jeno and Renjun from dating. 

Jeno’s footsteps stopped as he reached his apartment building. 

Did Renjun’s mother even know about Jeno?  

Did she know that Renjun had a boyfriend? 

Now, Jeno was freaking out again. Would Renjun’s mother approve of him? Or would she do everything in her power to break the two apart? Was Jeno enough for Renjun? Did Renjun actually have a long list of suitors that his mother approved of? 

Suddenly, he felt a warm hand caress his cheek and the touch was familiar, so instead of backing away, Jeno leaned into the touch. 

“Why are you just standing out here in the cold?”  

Jeno looked down, seeing a very concerned looking Renjun staring up at him. His cheeks were flushed, due to the cold and he had Jeno’s scarf wrapped around his neck. His winter jacket, which was a present from Donghyuck, was a size too big for Renjun’s small frame, so it practically covered almost all of Renjun’s body. Regardless of that, Renjun still was the prettiest person Jeno had ever seen. 

“Jen?”  

That was all it took to cause Jeno to lose his composure. His arms made their way around Renjun’s waist, finding solace in his familiar frame. Renjun said nothing, only wrapping his arms around Jeno. 

“Is everything alright?” Renjun asked softly, feeling Jeno rest his chin on his shoulder.  

Jeno hesitated, not wanting to admit to Renjun that he knew about his mother’s identity and was feeling too insecure to meet her. However, he knew that if he didn’t tell the truth to Renjun, it would end up becoming a problem for them in the future.  

“Let’s go inside first. I don’t want you to get sick.” Jeno answered, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of Renjun’s lips before taking his hand to drag him inside. Their small two-bedroom apartment was on the fifth floor of the building, so the two needed to take an elevator up. The elevator ride was quiet. Renjun was holding onto Jeno’s hand tightly, and Jeno could tell that he had worried Renjun a bit with his earlier reaction.  

Once the they made it to their apartment, they took their shoes off (Renjun hated shoes in the apartment) and then sat together in the living room. They had a strange tendency to sit on their couch in order to make hard decisions (what to have for dinner) and to have their ‘serious’ talks. So like clockwork, Renjun took a seat at the end of the couch and Jeno laid down, setting his head on Renjun’s lap. 

“What’s on your mind, love?” Renjun asked, threading his fingers through Jeno’s hair. The latter smiled at the nickname, which was one of the few pet names Renjun liked to call him. 

Jeno looked up at Renjun and sighed, “Donghyuck told me who your mother is. She’s a famous fashion designer, right?”  

A strange look crossed Renjun’s face, one that was of panic and fear. Jeno knew that this meant that Renjun really had no intention of ever talking about his mother’s identity. 

“Yes, you’re unfortunately right.” Renjun also let out a sigh, leaning back on the couch.  

“Why didn’t you tell me? Doesn’t this mean you’re super famous? How does no one recognize you?” Jeno’s onslaught of questions caused Renjun to let out yet another sigh and the Chinese boy just looked away. 

“It’s not like  _I’m_ the rich one... Besides, mother always had me wear a mask when I was a child whenever I would attend a fashion show with her. No one actually knows what I look like, they only know my name.” Renjun explained softly. Jeno sat up and gently wrapped his arms around Renjun’s shoulders before pushing him back onto the couch. They ended up facing each other with their legs tangled together.  

Jeno pressed a few kisses to Renjun’s jawline, earning a few smiles and giggles with every kiss.  

“I’m nervous to meet your family now. I mean, I was nervous before, but now I’m nervous and scared. What if she doesn’t think I’m good enough?” Jeno mumbled and Renjun just hummed softly, his hands making their way to Jeno’s hair again. 

“We won’t know until we meet her. Let’s just deal with this when the time comes.” Renjun responded, but that did little to alleviate both Jeno and his own worries. There was no way to tell what would happen in China.  

Jeno could only hope that things would go well. 

 

. 

 

A week quickly passed and the day before their flight to China, Jeno heard Renjun talking in rushed Mandarin to someone on the phone. From the sounds of it, his boyfriend didn’t seem too pleased with whoever he was talking with. Jeno could hear a female at the other end of the phone call, so he just assumed that Renjun was talking to his own mother.  

“Is everything alright?” Jeno asked, wrapping his arms around Renjun from behind. He pressed a soft kiss to Renjun's hair, earning a soft sigh in reply. 

“Mother insists on us staying at our family house with her and my other relatives. I told her we could just stay at a nearby hotel, but she really wants me to stay home.” Renjun said, leaning back onto Jeno’s chest. Their height difference was just enough for Jeno to rest his chin on the top of his boyfriend’s head.  

Jeno hummed, “Isn’t that a good thing though? This means you can see your family more and we won’t have to travel back and forth between the house and the hotel.”  

“Jeno, you haven’t met my family yet. Being stuck under one roof with all of them is going to be a massive headache. My cousins are all going to be staying at the house as well.” Renjun explained, taking his phone back out. Jeno smiled at the wallpaper, which was a picture of himself after just waking up. His hair was out of place, his eyes were barely open and he was pretty sure he had some drool on his cheek, but Renjun still took a picture and made it his wallpaper. That was two years ago.  

“How big exactly is your mother’s house?” Jeno asked, thinking about how one house could hold so many people. 

“You know about all of the cousins I’m close with, but let’s just say there’s quite a few more people in my family than just that.” Renjun turned around to face Jeno, a small smile lingering on his lips. Jeno smiled back, leaning in to kiss Renjun once more.  

The two were passed the point of relationships where they needed to constantly have their hands on each other, but there were still a few times when Renjun or Jeno would want affection in the form of kisses. Their lips moved together and just like with every kiss they had ever shared, Jeno still felt Renjun smiling into the kiss. He wasn’t sure if Renjun knew about his habit, but it was one that Jeno liked to keep a secret from everyone else, as if it was just for him.  

“This is only making me more nervous.” Jeno mumbled as he reluctantly pulled away from the kiss. He smiled at the sight of Renjun’s lips, which had turned a rosy pink. He almost leaned in for another kiss, but Renjun spoke before he had the chance to, “As long as you dress nice, my mother will like you.”  

“Don’t I always dress nice?” Jeno asked, tilting his head to the side. 

“You do,” Renjun started off, but his tone said something different, “when I pick out your clothes, I mean.”  

Jeno let out a dramatic gasp, pulling away from Renjun altogether, “You don’t like how I dress?!” 

“It’s not that I don’t like it! But from a designer’s point of view, you dress very...plain and safe.”  Renjun said, only causing Jeno to let out a sigh of despair. Now that he had learned that Renjun’s mother was a world-renowned fashion designer, he was going to have to step up his game. There was no way his usual jeans and a hoodie look was going to cut it with Renjun’s family.  

Jeno then started to make his way back to their room, leaving Renjun standing alone in the kitchen. The Chinese boy raised an eyebrow, watching as Jeno disappeared down the hallway with slumped shoulders.  

“What are you doing, Jeno?” Renjun called, still standing in the kitchen. 

Sounds of a luggage being opened and things being thrown around in their room echoed before Jeno finally responded, “Re-packing my stuff. I need to bring my nice clothes!”  

Renjun laughed and let Jeno figure out what clothes to pack, knowing that whatever he chose wouldn’t be too bad. Jeno had nice proportions, so he would look fine as long as he didn’t wear just jeans and a hoodie, like he normally did. 

Suddenly, Renjun felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, with the ringtone meant for his groupchat with his cousins. He couldn’t stop a smile appearing on his face as read the newest message from his younger cousin, Chenle. 

 **Chenle** : do we have a dress code?   
 **Sicheng** : ????   
 **Lucas** : u think aunt lihua wants us to match?   
 **Renjun** : I really hope not.   
 **Sicheng** : Jun, she’s been obsessing about your arrival ever since you told her you were coming.   
 **Chenle** : what about me! is she obsessing over my return?   
 **Sicheng** : Nope.   
 **Chenle** **:** ):   
 **Sicheng** **:** She’s been making sure that all of Renjun’s favorite foods will be cooked when he returns. She even made sure your room was the exact same since before you left.   
 **Renjun** **:**  I told her I was bringing someone home, I hope she didn’t keep my small bed still.   
 **Lucas:**  are you gonna share your room with your man?   
 **Renjun** **:** Jeno. His name is Jeno.   
 **Chenle** **:**  did you even tell aunt lihua that you were dating him?   
 **Renjun** **:**  …   
 **Sicheng** **:**  Oh no, Jun...   
 **Renjun** **:**  I know I’ve mentioned him to her before, but something tells me it hasn’t quite sunk in yet for her that I’m dating Jeno.   
 **Lucas:**  this family reunion is gonna be interesting  

Renjun let out a frustrated sigh, knowing that Jeno was going to be even more upset if he found out that Renjun’s mother wasn’t aware of the fact that he was dating Renjun. However, Renjun knew for a fact that he had told his mother that he was dating and living with Jeno, but his mother probably overlooked that, just like everything else Renjun told his mother. She had a tendency to completely ignore him sometimes, focusing more on her work than on him altogether. 

When he was younger, Renjun had heard a rumor that his mother was actually going to become a model, but her pregnancy had ruined her chances of ever making it to the top. So instead, she started to aim her life towards becoming a fashion designer instead.  

She soon rose to her fame and Renjun was just three years old when she would take him to her fashion shows. He more of an accessory compared to anything else. The only sensible thing his mother did when he was a child was hide his appearance, in order to protect his privacy. He had a mask that looked very similar to a fox, which he used to whenever he would attend a fashion show. Many people thought that his mask was a fashion statement and he was even featured at the young age of five in a well-known fashion magazine.  

At the time, he thought all the attention was nice, but deep down he still wanted the attention of his own mother. His father wasn’t around at all, leaving Renjun to be raised by a multitude of nannies and maids, along with his favorite butler.  

Suddenly, Renjun heard a frustrated yell come from his shared room with Jeno. Renjun smiled, making his way over to the rom to help his boyfriend figure out what outfits to pack. 

Renjun knew that returning to China was going to be a very interesting experience, for both him and Jeno. 

 

. 

 

Winter was just as brutal in China as it was in South Korea, Jeno decided as soon as he stepped out of the airport that he and Renjun had landed in. Renjun had warned him, saying that a scarf wasn’t going to be enough coverage, but Jeno couldn’t help but only wear a scarf. It was his own fault, really. 

“Are they here yet?” Jeno asked, his teeth chattering together and he bounced on his heels, trying his best to stay warm. Luckily for them, it wasn’t snowing. 

“Lucas ge drives like an old man, despite his appearance. It’ll take him a bit longer to get here.” Renjun said, unaffected by the cold. Jeno was jealous of the fact that Renjun rarely felt cold and one time Renjun had joked that his insensitivity to cold was due to his cold heart.  

And despite never getting cold, Renjun was quite fond of cuddling.  

“Oh, I take that back. Looks like Lucas ge is here!” Renjun said, spotting a car approaching them on the curve. Jeno squinted, spotting a flashy red car driving closer. He could tell that it was a foreign made car, one probably from America based on its appearance.  

Just like Renjun said, Lucas was driving like an old man. There were a few cars driving behind him that were being slowed down, but from the looks of it, they were not complaining. Jeno wondered if Lucas was known in this area for driving like that. 

“Little Huang!” Lucas yelled as he stuck his head out of his rolled down window, waving with one hand. 

Jeno smiled at the sight of Renjun’s cousin. He was only one year older than both Renjun and Jeno, but his personality was one of a carefree child. Renjun had always said that Lucas could light up a room with his presence alone.  

Once Lucas was parked, he quickly exited his car to wrap his arms around Renjun in a tight hug. The two started conversing in what Jeno recognized to be Cantonese and it was a strange sight to see Renjun speaking in another language.  

“Oh, and you’re Jeno, right?” Lucas said, speaking in Korean as he turned to smile at Jeno. 

At the sound of his mother tongue, Jeno raised an eyebrow. Renjun smiled and gently pat Lucas’s arm, “he can speak some Korean, just enough to get the point across.” 

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Lee Jeno.” Jeno bowed his head to be polite, causing Lucas to let out a loud laugh.  

“No need for those formalities, you can just call me Lucas hyung if it makes you more comfortable.” Lucas said, his Korean accented much like Renjun’s was when he first moved to South Korea.  

Jeno nodded, taking a closer look at his appearance. 

Lucas was a bit taller than Jeno, which made him much taller than Renjun. The two didn’t look similar at all, but they were only cousins, so their connection didn’t necessarily warrant any visual similarities. He had dark brown hair, borderline black hair, that was styled nicely to show off his forehead. He was dressed nicely as well, wearing maroon dress pants along with a padded black jacket. He, like Renjun, didn’t seem too bothered by the cold. 

“Let’s get yours stuff in the car and head back to Auntie Lihua’s house, Sicheng ge is excited to see you.” Lucas said, still speaking in Korean. Jeno had a feeling Lucas was only speaking Korean to include Jeno in the conversation. 

“If you want to speak in Cantonese or Mandarin, you can. I don’t mind.” Jeno said, rolling his and Renjun’s luggage over to the trunk. 

“No, I need to improve my Korean! I’m visiting next month and I won’t have a translator there.” Lucas explained, his wide smile was practically contagious and it made Jeno smile as well. 

Renjun got into the front passenger side of the car, letting Lucas and Jeno handle the luggage, “You’re coming to visit? Did you need a place to stay?” 

“No, I’ve got a friend out there that offered me a place to crash. I’m going over for a business meeting so I won’t be there for long.” Lucas said as he also got into the car, sitting in the driver’s seat. Jeno got into the back, sitting in the middle seat so that he could see both Renjun and Lucas.   

“You’re still managing the hotels?” Renjun asked, continuing to speak in Korean for both Lucas and Jeno’s sake. 

“I’m kind of stuck managing them because of how Sicheng ge bailed out on it, but I’m not mad about it at all. I get to travel all around the world thanks to him.” Lucas replied, and Jeno raised an eyebrow at the other mentioned cousin. 

Renjun leaned his head against the window, taking in the sight of his home country as they drove to his childhood home, “Any word on how he’s doing? He’s been pretty emotional ever since he announced his retirement.”  

“Can you blame him? He’s not even near being thirty and the elders told him to choose between his profession and the love of his life.” Lucas said, tapping his thumb against the steering wheel to a silent beat. Jeno looked back and forth between the two in the front of the car, suddenly feeling out of place and a bit confused.  

“I’ll explain more to you later, love.” Renjun said, turning back to smile slightly at Jeno. 

Lucas glanced back at Jeno at well, before saying something to Renjun in Cantonese. Whatever he had said caused Renjun to turn a frantic shade of red, one Jeno had only seen on the occasions when Renjun was extremely flustered. He wanted to ask Renjun what Lucas had said, but he had a feeling that there was no way he was going to get an answer.  

The rest of the car ride was full of Lucas asking questions about Korea. His Korean was more elementary compared to Renjun’s, but Jeno knew that with practice the language would come easier to Lucas. After driving for around twenty more minutes, Jeno glanced out of the window and saw that there were no longer any tall buildings around and that they were in an area that resembled a forest. They weren’t anywhere near the city anymore. 

“There are a few people that can speak Korean, so you won’t feel too left out.” Renjun said, looking back at Jeno. As Lucas kept driving down the road, they could all see a huge mansion off in the distance. It was bigger than any house Jeno had ever seen before. 

It wasn’t long until Jeno started to become nervous at the thought of meeting Renjun’s family. He still had no idea what his mother looked like, even though Donghyuck had insisted that he look up what the entire family looked like. According to him, the entire family was well-known in China in various fields, but Renjun’s mother dominated the fashion world. From what he had just learned, Lucas and his parents were probably the owners of hotels located all around the world.  

“Damn, auntie is making all the butlers greet us outside in the cold.” Lucas muttered as he drove up to the front door. There was a ride pavement road that enabled the car to pull up.  

Renjun sighed, pressing his lips together in a tight line, “Mother really hasn’t changed one bit.” 

Lucas laughed and parked the car, smiling at the butlers that were lined up to the door. Jeno did a quick headcount, counting five butlers standing in the cold and snow. He wondered how long they were waiting for them outside. 

Lucas and Renjun then got out of the car, which led to Jeno doing the same. As soon as they stepped out of the car, the butlers all bowed in their direction, saying something in Mandarin that Jeno could not understand. Jeno was about to go ahead and get their luggage out of the back of the car, but Renjun shook his head, grabbing Jeno’s wrist instead.  

“They’ll bring everything in.” Renjun simply said, moving his hand down from Jeno’s wrist to his hand, interlocking their fingers together. Jeno smiled down at Renjun, feeling thankful for the calming gesture.  

“Uncle Renjun! Uncle Lucas!” A child burst through the front door, running up to Lucas, nearly tackling him into the snow. 

Lucas caught the child, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder, “Xiaojun!” Lucas yelled at the child in Mandarin, but Jeno could only understand bits and pieces of the sentence.  

“That’s Xiaojun, he’s sickly in winter, so he’s typically not allowed outside when it’s cold.” Renjun explained, leading Jeno inside of the mansion. As soon as they stepped inside, Jeno let out an audible gasp at the interior of just the foyer of the mansion.  

A grand staircase that split into two smaller staircases led to the second level to the house, but it wasn’t the stairs that caught Jeno’s attention. Rather it was the painting that was at the top of the stairs that was eye-catching. It was a family portrait of a large family, but the center of it was a young boy, who despite the smiling faces around him, was not smiling as much. Jeno recognized him almost immediately and it was Renjun. Just as he was about to ask his boyfriend about the picture, someone came running down the stairs. 

“Renjun!" 

Renjun immediately let go of Jeno’s hand, running over to whoever had come down the stairs. Jeno could tell that it was Sicheng, Renjun’s cousin that was apparently retiring from his job as a performer. He looked quite young, and Jeno remembered that he was just a few years older than he and Renjun. His hair, which used to dyed blonde, was now a deep shade of brown. Jeno could tell that he was tired, due to the bags forming under his eyes. 

“And this must be Jeno, right?” Sicheng said softly, speaking in an accented Korean. Jeno’s eyes widened at the language, not expecting it at all from Sicheng. 

Sicheng must have seen the look of surprise on Jeno’s face, so he smiled, “I have a few Korean friends that have been teaching me over the years. You’ll be able to meet them soon.”  

“You never told me you could speak Korean!” Renjun chimed in, still wrapped up in Sicheng’s arms. Jeno just chuckled at his boyfriend’s baffled expression, but he was thankful that he wasn’t going to be facing a major language barrier. He had Lucas, Sicheng, and even Sicheng’s friends to talk to. 

“That was the language I first used to talk to Yuta, but he’s much better at it than I am.” Sicheng replied, smiling at Renjun. He gently pat the top of Renjun’s head and the younger boy leaned in closer to the touch. 

“Renjun?” Jeno heard another voice call his boyfriend’s name and another person came bounding down the stairs with a wide smile on his face. This person was unfamiliar to Jeno, so instead he watched as Renjun waved his hands at the stranger. 

“Kun ge!” Renjun exclaimed, running over to give him a hug once he reached the bottom of the stairs. Jeno pouted his lips, feeling suddenly left out as Renjun left him to go talk to whoever this person was. 

Lucas placed his hand on Jeno’s shoulder, surprising him, “That’s Kun ge, our cousin that words in Singapore. He’s busy working, so it’s rare we ever see him unless it’s an important holiday.” 

Jeno was thankful for the explanation because he was sure that he was going to end up becoming confused between all of Renjun’s family members. Jeno’s own family was so small, but it seemed as if Renjun’s family was never ending.  

Suddenly, the front door opened once more, revealing three people, probably a bit older than Jeno, standing with luggage behind them. 

“Sicheng! You suck at giving directions!” Someone with jet black hair yelled out in Korean, catching both Renjun and Jeno’s immediate attention. 

Sicheng just smiled, approaching the newcomers, “Sorry Doyoung hyung, but at least you made it!”  

“Are they Korean?” Jeno found himself saying out loud without intending to. The three strangers then all turned towards Jeno, staring him down with curious gazes. 

“Ah, is this your cousin’s Korean boyfriend you told us about?” One of them questioned, stepping closer to Jeno. 

Renjun then piped up, “This is Jeno, he’s Korean and yes he’s my boyfriend.”  

Jeno blushed at the sudden introduction, bowing his head at the three standing in the doorway. They returned the bow, introducing themselves one by one. 

“I’m Kim Doyoung.” 

“My name is Lee Taeyong.” 

“And I’m Jung Jaehyun. We’re all friends of Sicheng and Yuta, who still isn’t here yet.”  

“At least Jeno has some people he can talk to now. He was so worried about having to have me translate all the time for him.” Renjun said, smiling as he returned to Jeno’s side. He wrapped an arm around Jeno’s waist, leaning against him in a rare display of affection in front of his family. Jeno smiled at Renjun, securing an arm around his shoulder to hold him steady. 

Taeyong smiled at Jeno before speaking, “Speaking of which, Yuta said he’ll be arriving after he picks up Johnny from the airport. Johnny had a game earlier so he couldn’t take the same flight as us.” 

“Who’s Yuta? Also, who is Johnny and why does he sound so familiar?” Jeno whispered, leaning in closer to Renjun. He didn’t want to ask the question out loud, feeling a bit shy around all of the people in the room. 

Renjun tiptoed up to reach Jeno, whispering as well, “Yuta is Sicheng ge’s fiancé and Johnny is the goalkeeper for the Korean football team that Mark likes.” 

Suddenly Jeno’s staggered, but Renjun’s hold around his waist managed to keep him upright. Not only was Renjun’s family rich and famous, they also had famous acquaintances as well. If Johnny was a famous football player, then Jeno had a feeling that Yuta may be as well. 

“And I’m guessing that Yuta is also a football player?” Jeno asked, leaning back in towards Renjun. 

The shorter of the two nodded, “Yuta is a player for a team in Japan. He and Johnny became friends after playing against each other. Yuta and Sicheng ge met each other when Yuta came to China for a match because his friends went to see a performance where Sicheng ge works.” 

Jeno hummed, taking in all of the information he had just learned. Renjun’s family had quite the expansion and Jeno could tell that he still had a few more people to meet.  

“Jeno, did you want to have your stuff brought to the room first? Auntie won’t be coming home until later tonight so you guys can rest if you want.” Sicheng said, approaching Jeno and Renjun. 

They both nodded their heads and Sicheng guided them (he really just guided Jeno, since Renjun already knew where he was going) to the room that they would be using. The three walked up the giant staircase that was in the foyer, walking until they reached a hallway that could easily be mistaken as a hotel hallway, considering all of the doors.  

“We all stay in this wing of the house because we have a tendency to get really loud. Auntie and the elders stay in the other wing. Auntie fixed up your room, Renjun, but she made sure to give you a bigger bed.” Sicheng said as they walked down the hallway. Jeno counted five rooms until they finally reached Renjun’s room, which was as the very end of the hallway. Renjun took a deep breath before opening the door, stepping into his room for the first time in nearly four years. 

As soon as the three stepped inside, Jeno could tell immediately that this was the room Renjun grew up in. It was quite spacious for a room meant for one person and was probably twice the size of their shared room in their apartment. The walls were painted a pastel yellow, similar to the color that Renjun had chosen to paint their living room. There was an empty easel in the corner of the room, with a few blank canvases set up against the wall. It looked as if they were just placed there, possibly by Renjun’s mother.  

His bed, which was much larger than their own, was placed against the wall and there was a nightstand on each side of the bed. The navy blue sheets looked freshly ironed and perfect, it almost made Jeno not want to touch them.  

There was another door in Renjun’s room which led to his own private bathroom.  

“You grew up in this room?!” Jeno exclaimed, walking around Renjun’s room. His boyfriend just nodded his head, placing a hand against the hall gently, “Still the same color too.”  

Sicheng smiled, stepping back to the doorway, “I’ll call you guys when dinner is being served. That’s when auntie should be home as well.”  

He closed the door and left, leaving Jeno and Renjun alone in the room. Renjun let out a soft sigh before taking a seat at the end of the bed. Jeno could tell that there was something on Renjun’s mind, so he stepped closer to him, standing between Renjun’s legs as the Chinese boy let out another sigh. 

“Stop sighing, babe. What’s wrong?” Jeno asked, frowning as Renjun buried his face in Jeno’s chest.  

A muffled response was heard, but Jeno was unable to understand a single word Renjun had said. He wrapped his arms around Renjun’s waist loosely, waiting for him to speak again. 

After a few moments of silence, Renjun finally looked up with a pout forming on his lips. Jeno mirrored the expression, leaning in to peck his boyfriend’s pout. 

“It feels so strange being home after all these years. I haven’t seen my family all this time.” Renjun started off. Jeno nodded his head, listening as Renjun continued to speak, “This isn’t exactly a happy occasion, either. Sicheng ge’s retirement is actually a big problem for the family.” 

Jeno tilted his head, confused, “Why?” 

“Sicheng ge was going to inherit the hotels that my family operates. However, his engagement to Yuta caused a major argument between SIcheng ge and the elders. They made him choose between the family business or Yuta. Obviously, he chose Yuta, but now he’s going to be moving to Japan to support Yuta and his career.” Renjun explained more of Sicheng’s situation, causing Jeno to grimace. 

“If they’re so protective over your cousin, what will happen if we **—** ” Jeno immediately stopped talking, his face heating up at the thought of what he was just about to say. Luckily for him, Renjun did not catch onto what he had implied, but rather he just stared up at Jeno with a perplexed expression on his face. 

Jeno just laughed nervous, kissing Renjun’s forehead, “Never mind, it’s not important.”  

Renjun nodded, wrapping his arms around Jeno to give him a tight hug. He snuck a few kisses against Jeno’s jaw causing him to let out a soft chuckle.  

“Your cousins could walk in on us at any minute.” Jeno chided with no real malice. He felt Renjun smile against his jaw before his lips trailed down to Jeno’s neck. It wasn’t long until Jeno self-restraint snapped and Renjun was pinned to the bed with Jeno towering over him. 

Just as Jeno leaned in closer, a soft knock was heard on the door. Renjun panicked and pushed Jeno off of him, causing him to nearly fall off the bed, “Come in!” 

Jeno watched as the door open and he was ready to glare at whoever had interrupted what could have been a promising make out session with Renjun. However, it was the same young boy from earlier that was standing in the doorway. 

“Xiaojun?” Renjun questioned, sitting up on the bed as the child continued to stand in the doorway.  

The young boy opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when someone down the hallway had called his name. This time another child showed up and he looked to be the same age as Xiaojun.  

“Yangyang?” Renjun said, carefully getting off of the bed to approach the two children at the door.  

Renjun spoke to the children with a small smile on his face, but Jeno could only understand a few phrases. Not before long, another voice was heard coming down the hallway and this child was being particularly loud. Jeno couldn’t see who was coming, but they were definitely running down the hallway towards Renjun’s room. 

“Hendery!” A familiar voice yelled and it took Jeno a few moments before he recognized it to be Kun’s voice. 

The young man appeared in the doorway and the three children bowed their heads, as if they were apologizing. Kun let out a sigh, picking up one child (Xiaojun) and holding another one’s (Yangyang) hand. He and Renjun spoke for moment and again, Jeno could not understand what they were saying.  

 Kun smiled politely at Jeno before taking the children back down the hallway. Hendery stared at Jeno for a few seconds before finally turning around to leave the room. 

“I may have forgotten to mention this, but Kun ge has kids. The triplets are Kun ge’s adopted children.” Renjun said, explaining how the young children were related to them. Jeno rolled over on the bed, resting on his stomach as he stared at Renjun. 

“What did the kids ask you about? One of them kept staring at me.” Jeno asked as Renjun joined him on the bed.  

“Before I left for Korea, I spent a lot of time helping Kun take care of the triplets. They were only two years old then, but I guess Hendery was fond of me the most. They’re five now, but I think that they are still clingy towards me.” 

Jeno smiled at Renjun’s words before climbing under the sheets on the bed. The two still had a couple hours until dinner, so it wouldn’t hurt to take a nap. Renjun seemed to understand what Jeno was doing and he also climbed under the sheets, ready to take a nap. 

Like clockwork, Jeno brought his arms around Renjun, pulling him against his chest. They typically fell asleep in this position, with Renjun’s back against Jeno’s chest. However, as the night went on, they had a habit of pulling away from away from each other. Somehow, Renjun would end up nearly falling out of the bed with his limbs (normally it was his arm, sometimes it was his leg) across Jeno’s stomach. On the other hand, Jeno slept like a log and would barely move. Every morning he would wake up having to pull Renjun back into the bed before he rolled out. 

It wasn’t long until Jeno fell asleep, listening to the soft sounds of Renjun breathing. All of his nerves and anxiety were calm in that moment when he let sleep wash over him.  

Falling asleep with Renjun in his arms kept Jeno’s heart in peace.  

 

. 

 

“Jeno? Jeno, you need to wake up.”  

“Your boyfriend sleeps like a rock, Renjun.” 

“I know. This is why he’s always late in the morning.” 

Jeno groaned, hearing voices talking about him. He opened his eyes and sat up slowly, squinting to figure out who was in the room with him. He saw Renjun, standing off to the side of the room. He had changed his clothes and was now wearing black pants, a black and white striped turtle neck, along with what appeared to be a purple denim jacket.  

There was a second voice in the room, so Jeno turned to his left and saw that Sicheng’s friend, Taeyong, was in the room as well.  

“What time is it?” Jeno asked, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up a bit more. 

“It’s time for you to change because mother is here and dinner will start shortly.” Renjun answered, pulling on Jeno’s arm to get him out of bed. 

Taeyong laughed, “Sicheng said to be down in the dining room in fifteen minutes. I’ll see you guys later.”  

He closed the door as he left, leaving Renjun and Jeno alone. 

“You look cute.” Jeno said, taking another look at Renjun’s outfit. It was something that he had never seen Renjun wear before, but it was definitely an outfit that fit Renjun, both physically and personally. 

Renjun smiled before throwing a pair of black pants into Jeno’s face, “Please change into these. I’m still looking for a top.”  

Nodding his head, Jeno got out of bed and started to change into the pants. Renjun was used to the sight of Jeno changing in front of him, so he paid no attention to it and focused on figuring out what to make Jeno wear. 

The pants that Renjun had given to Jeno were black jeans, just tight enough to show off Jeno’s long legs. Jeno wasn’t sure how long Renjun had been awake, but it seemed as if he was awake long enough to organize their clothes in Renjun’s closet.  

“And before you ask, no you’re not allowed to wear a hoodie.” Renjun said, still staring into the closet. Jeno chuckled, already knowing that Renjun wasn’t going to let him wear a hoodie.  

After a few more minutes of silent contemplation, Renjun finally pulled out a white long-sleeved button up shirt. He handed it to Jeno, who changed without question.  

“Can your mother speak Korean?” Jeno asked as he started to button the shirt closed.  

Renjun just shrugged, not quite sure of the answer to that question. 

“I’ll be sitting next to you and I’ll see if one of Sicheng ge’s friends can sit on your other side, so that you have someone to talk to during dinner.” The shorter boy said, tiptoeing up to kiss Jeno’s cheek.  

The two then left Renjun’s room, holding hands as they walked down the hallway towards the staircase. They didn’t hear any other noises in the rooms that they passed, meaning that everyone was already downstairs in the dining room. It took a few minutes for them to reach the bottom of the staircase and Jeno just led Renjun lead the way the entire time.  

Once they reached the first floor of the house, Renjun led Jeno to a door that was on the right side of the foyer were they originally were earlier. Jeno never noticed the door there earlier. This particular door opened to reveal yet another hallway. The hallway was lined with family pictures and even as they walked passed them, Jeno was able to recognize the familiar faces.  

At the end of the hallway, there was one picture that caused Jeno to pause his steps. Renjun stopped as well, glancing at the picture that had caught Jeno’s attention. 

“This was when I was five years old and that’s the mask mother had me wear whenever I would appear in public with her.” Renjun spoke very softly, letting Jeno stare at the picture a bit more. 

Renjun’s mother was beautiful. At the time when this picture was taken, she had short black hair, cut in a very fashionable bob style. Her outfit consisted of dark green dress pants along with a suit jacket of the same color. She was wearing high heels and was posed in a very elegant manner.  

She was holding hands with a young child whose face was covered by a very well-designed mask. It appeared to be hand painted and from what Jeno could see, it was a fox. The paint used was all black, giving the child a mature aura. He was wearing what seemed to be Chinese traditional clothes in the very same shade as Renjun’s mother. 

“Come now, dinner is going to be starting soon and we don’t want to keep mother waiting.” Renjun said, pulling Jeno away from the picture. The dining room was only a few feet away and Jeno could already hear Renjun’s cousins and family members all talking. He could even hear some of Sicheng’s friends speaking in Korean with one another. 

The dining room was just as grand as the foyer with a long table situated in the middle of it. It was quite long and it had just the right amount of chairs to accommodate everyone at the house. At the very end of the table, Jeno could see a few people elderly seated and talking amongst themselves. However, the empty spot at the end of the table was what caught Jeno’s attention. He had a feeling that that certain chair was where Renjun’s mother was going to be sitting. 

Renjun led the way to the two empty chairs that were in the middle of the table. On Renjun’s right side would be Lucas, then it was going to be Jeno on the left and on Jeno’s left would be Sicheng’s friend, Jaehyun. Jeno, being as polite as always, pulled out Renjun’s seat for him to sit. Immediately after doing so, a round of “awww” was heard from the table. Jeno blushed at the coos, glancing over to see Sicheng and Kun smiling at him. He then took his seat, staring down into his lap as he waited for dinner to start. 

“Have you ever met the matriarch of this family?” A voice asked from Jeno’s left, meaning it was Jaehyun speaking to him. Jeno looked over to Jaehyun and shook his head, earning a chuckle from the older man. 

“Sicheng said she’s very strict, so hopefully we all make a good impression to her. I can’t imagine how she feels hosting all of us here.” Jaehyun said. This meant that it was probably the first time for Renjun’s mother to meet Yuta, who Jeno assumed as the unfamiliar person sitting next to Sicheng. He looked like a nice person and he definitely had a bright and happy smile. He and Sicheng were whispering amongst themselves, as if there was no one else at the table. 

“Oh, you haven’t met Johnny and Yuta yet, have you?” Sicheng piped up, gently patting the arms of the two sitting next to him. 

“This is Yuta,” Sicheng started off, gesturing to who was on his left, “and this is Johnny. They both play for football teams.”  

Jeno bowed his head towards both Yuta and Johnny, instantly recognizing Johnny as the goalkeeper of the team Mark was a fan of.  

“Sicheng never shuts up about you, Renjun. He adores you a lot.” Yuta said, speaking in a slightly accented Korean. Jeno remembered that Renjun had mentioned that Yuta was Japanese, but his Korean was not bad at all. 

At the sound of his name, Renjun smiles brightly, “We’ve been close ever since we were children. I’d be sad if he never talked about me.”  

“He’s also mentioned you, Jeno, right? It’s nice to meet you.” Yuta said, smiling at Jeno.  

“It’s nice to meet you too!” Jeno replied happily, feeling a bit more comfortable now that he was familiar with everyone and was able to speak Korean. The language barrier was not as bad as he had originally thought it was going to be.  

Everyone at the table started to talk amongst themselves as they waited for Renjun’s mother to arrive. Jeno spent most of his time talking to Sicheng and his friends, getting to know them a bit more, and Renjun took the time to talk to the elders at the table, who he revealed to be his mother’s aunt and her uncle-in-law. Both of the elders were relatively quiet, but Jeno could feel them staring and smiling at him from time to time.  

After a few minutes of talking, the door to the dining room had suddenly opened, startling nearly everyone except for Renjun and the elders. In the doorway was an older woman with long, straight jet black hair. She was wearing a long red dress that reached the floor and the dress also had long sleeves that covered up all of her arms. Her long hair was pulled into a hair ponytail and her makeup accented her face perfectly. The only accessory that she had on were her earrings, which appeared to be diamonds in the shape of a raindrop.  

Her presence caused everyone, sans the elders, to stand up from the table to bow at her. Jeno followed Renjun’s lead, doing the same as they kept their heads bowed as she walked over to her seat.  

“That’s enough.” She said in Mandarin, lifting her hand up to tell everyone to take a seat. Luckily for Jeno, he was able to understand her clear command and he sat down slowly before looking back over to her.  

Strangely enough, she was staring right back at him. 

Renjun then diverted her attention, speaking softly about something that Jeno could not quite translate. She paused a moment before answering, and something about her voice sounded very calming to Jeno. She spoke the same way Renjun did. 

“My Korean is very elementary, but you are Renjun’s boyfriend, yes?” She said, staring at Jeno once more.  

Jeno nodded his head, “I am Lee Jeno. It is nice to meet you.” He bowed his head to be polite and raised it a moment later to see her response. 

She stared blankly at him before turning back to Renjun, speaking in Mandarin once more.  

“Don’t worry about what they’re talking about. It’s just some family stuff.” Sicheng said quietly, trying not to gather too much attention to himself. Jeno silently thanked him for the quick translation.  

A few moments later, multiple butlers showed up holding plates of food to be served. They had served Renjun’s mother and the elders first, and then the rest seemed to be served according to where they were sitting. Jeno thanked the butler for the food, staring down at the plate. 

Everything looked amazing to eat and it was all much more exquisite compared to what he was used to. Renjun seemed unfazed by everything, and Jeno could only assume that that was because he had grown up this way. The meal consisted of traditional Chinese food, ones that Jeno knew Renjun was fond of. As everyone started to eat, Jeno couldn’t help himself but steal some glances towards Renjun’s mother. He could tell that Renjun got most of his features from her, especially his eyes and nose. She was quite beautiful, magnificent almost.  

Renjun’s mother mostly talked to the elders, however occasionally she would say something to either Renjun or Kun. Jeno had a hard time understanding what was being said, but he had a feeling that he wasn’t supposed to know much anyways.  

It wasn’t until dinner was almost over that Renjun’s mother directed her attention to him again. She had cleared her throat, calling for everyone’s attention. She first said something to Renjun, who then turned to Jeno, “She told me to translate everything she says so that you don’t feel left out.” 

Jeno nodded his head, looking up as Renjun’s mother stood up from her seat to address everyone sitting at the table.  

As she started to speak, Renjun translated everything she said softly. 

“It’s nice to have everyone gathered today. I wish the occasion was more joyous, but this is what it has come to. With Sicheng’s final performance in just a couple of days, I want to remind you of something. Family, our family in particular, is one that should never break apart. Without each other, we are nothing. Our success as a family comes from us being able to rely and work with each other.” 

Jeno pressed his lips together, not liking how the speech of Renjun’s mother was going. 

“That being said, with Sicheng’s impending marriage, we all know that he will not be able to carry out the duties given to him by this family. To balance this out, I am requesting that **—** ” 

Right in the middle of translating his mother’s sentence, Renjun paused, whipping his head over to his older cousin Kun, who looked as equally confused as he did. From across the table, Sicheng was frowning as he stared over at his aunt. Renjun and Kun stood up from their seats, looking as if they were about to confront Renjun’s mother about whatever she had said. 

Renjun then said something to his mother, but she seemed to ignore it before taking her seat again. She finished her last remaining food before leaving the table. The elders, who were already finished with their meal, followed after her. 

“What just happened?”  

It was Yuta that broke the silence that had taken over the dining room. Jeno looked back and forth between Renjun and Kun, who were both still standing from their seats. 

“I can’t believe her...” Lucas muttered, looking down at his lap. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeno saw Renjun begin to clench his fist, which was a habit he had when he was angry. He gently took Renjun’s hand, tugging on it carefully, “Babe, what did she say?”  

Renjun fell back into his seat, “She said... because of Sicheng ge’s decision to leave the family business, I have to take over some assets. She wants me to become head of the family. Kun ge, who works in Singapore, running some of his father’s businesses, will have to return to China after my graduation.” 

Jeno blinked, not understanding what Renjun was saying. 

“In other words, I have to leave everything behind in Korea and return to China.” 

A gasp escaped Jeno’s lips, finally aware of what that being said. He looked down at his plate, no longer with an appetite to eat. It seemed like Renjun felt the same, seeing as he pushed his plate away gently.  

Kun then said something to Renjun, before turning to Sicheng with a small smile on his face. He then left the table, and his triplets followed after him, holding hands with one another. Taeyong, who stayed quiet throughout the whole ordeal, turned his attention over to Sicheng. 

“Is everything okay, Sicheng?” 

Sicheng nodded, “It just has to deal with the family, hyung. It’ll be okay.” It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else.  

Renjun stood up from the table, pulling on Jeno’s hand to make him do the same. Without a word, Renjun lead Jeno out of the dining room table and no one stopped him. As soon as they were in the hallway, Renjun’s steps hurried to get them to his room as soon as possible. He was silent as they climbed the stairs and nearly tripped on the top step. Jeno simply let Renjun lead the way to his room, knowing that he would get a full explanation once they were alone. 

“Renjun, what is going on?” Jeno said, immediately after they were inside of Renjun’s room.  

The Chinese boy just groaned, collapsing onto the bed. He wrapped the blanket around himself, turning into a small cocoon to hide himself. Jeno stared and let his boyfriend take a moment to gather himself together, before joining him in the bed to calm him down. 

“I hate my mother.” Renjun mumbled as Jeno wrapped his arms around him, enveloping him in a tight hug.  

“No, you don’t.” Jeno replied, pressing a kiss to Renjun’s forehead. 

Renjun grumbled, “Yes, I do! She wants me to leave Korea as soon as possible, so that I can take over part of the family’s business. Plus, she’s making Kun come back to China too and I know he prefers to stay in Singapore because of how well his father’s businesses have been going. His children love Singapore too.”  

Jeno rubbed Renjun’s back, listening as he vented about what his mother had said during dinner. This was all so sudden, but Jeno had a feeling that Renjun was leaving out something that his mother had mentioned. Something didn’t quite seem right. 

“What are you going to do?” Jeno asked, his hold on Renjun getting tighter at the thought of Renjun having to actually leave Korea. 

“I am going to focus on Sicheng ge because we came here to support him. I’ll have to deal with my mother later.” Renjun decided, pecking Jeno’s quickly on the lips before suddenly sitting up. Jeno whined as Renjun left his arms, but he also sat up, watching as Renjun then got out of bed. 

“Tomorrow, we are going to spend the day with Sicheng and his friends. His last performance is on Saturday and tomorrow is Thursday. On Friday, I want to take you places.” Renjun smiled at the end of his sentence and Jeno returned the smile easily.  

“Where do you want to take me?” Jeno asked, feeling curious. 

Renjun’s smile widened, “To my favorite places from my childhood. There are quite a few, so we’ll probably be out the entire day.”  

Jeno nodded his head with his excitement growing at the thought of being able to learn more about Renjun. He knew a lot about his boyfriend, but being able to actually visit places that were important to Renjun was a meaningful opportunity to learn even more about him, especially now that Jeno had met Renjun’s family. 

“And let me guess, you’re already choosing my outfits to wear?” Jeno questioned once Renjun got out of bed, making his way to the closet. Renjun turned back and nodded, grinning as he did so. Jeno let out a sigh, knowing that Renjun probably thought it was fun to dress Jeno up. It was in his blood, as the son of a fashion designer. 

Something still bothered Jeno, but he didn’t want to bring it up with Renjun because he was afraid of the truth.  

If Renjun’s mother wants him to leave Korea, then what would mean she also wants him to leave Jeno.  

Leaving Korea equals leaving Jeno. 

He had never mentioned it before, but one of Jeno’s biggest fears was actually losing Renjun. For nearly four years, the two had been together and in that amount of time, Jeno had gotten so used to having Renjun around that it had felt like he had become a part of him. Jeno loved Renjun, more than anyone else in the world, and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do without him.  

As his mind started to become burdened at the idea of Renjun leaving him, Jeno could feel tears suddenly come to his eyes. He never cried often, only when in extreme pain, so he was confused as tears rolled down his cheeks and onto his lap. He tried to whip them away quickly enough so make sure Renjun didn’t see them, but he heard a soft gasp from his boyfriend who then ran over to the bed. 

“Jeno, what’s wrong?! Are you okay?” Renjun cupped Jeno’s cheeks, obviously concerned about Jeno.  

Jeno nodded and carefully took Renjun’s hands, pressing a kiss to each palm before nodding his head once more to reassure Renjun, “I don’t know why I’m crying... Maybe I’m just emotional about finally being able to see your favorite places.” Jeno didn’t mean to lie, but he couldn’t worry Renjun, especially when nothing was set in stone yet.  

Renjun seemed to believe his lie and he just smiled before kissing Jeno softly on the lips, “You’re such a sap. I love you.” 

“I love you more.” Jeno said, his tears finally coming to a stop. He tugged on Renjun’s hands, bringing him in for another kiss.  

He wasn’t sure what was going to happen in the future, but for now all he needed to do was focus on Renjun and trust that things would work out.  

 

 

. 

 

The next day, Jeno was awakened by someone gently tapping on his shoulder. He let out a groan, not used to being woken up so gently. As he opened his eyes, he saw a young child staring at him with wide eyes and the child was holding a worn-out teddy bear in his arms.  

It took Jeno a moment, but he recognized this child to be Yangyang, one of Kun’s triplets.  

“Good morning.” Yangyang said in English, staring at Jeno. 

Jeno stuttered at the foreign language and replied slowly, “G-good morning.” 

“Breakfast is downstairs. Uncle Renjun is downstairs already.” Yangyang said, still speaking in English. Jeno was lucky he could understand and speak basic English, thanks to his classes in high school. Yangyang then left the room, still dragging the teddy bear with him as he shut the door. Jeno let out a sigh and ran his hands over his face, trying to fully wake up. The spot next to him in the bed was empty, which meant Renjun really was already downstairs eating breakfast.  

He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to change his clothes for breakfast, so Jeno played it safe and changed into jeans and a hoodie, even though he knew Renjun would disapprove of the outfit. Before leaving the room, Jeno made sure to put on his glasses. He didn’t wear them often, but preferred to wear them after waking up because putting contacts on took a lot of effort.  

Plus, Renjun liked his glasses too.  

He still remembered how to get to the dining room and it only took him a few minutes to reach it. Before finally entering the room, he took a deep breath to prepare himself before having to see Renjun’s mother again. He still wasn’t over last night. 

Jeno slowly opened the door, not wanting to gather too much attention to him as he entered. The smell of breakfast instantly hit his nose and his stomach grumbled, ready to be fed. He spotted Renjun first (he always did) and made his way over to take the seat next to him. Much to his surprise, Renjun’s mother and the elders were not at the table. 

“Good morning, love.” Renjun smiled, kissing Jeno’s cheek as he took his seat.  

Jeno gently pinched Renjun’s cheek, “You didn’t wake me up this morning!”  

“You were sleeping so soundly! Plus the kids woke me up really early in the morning because they wanted to play.” Renjun explained, pointing over to where the triplets were sitting. Yangyang had his teddy bear on his lap and Xiaojun had reached over to grab it, only making Yangyang cry. Kun immediately stared at the two and it only took Yangyang a few seconds to stop his crying.  

Hendery, on the other hand, was busy staring a hole into Jeno’s head. It was almost like he was glaring at him, but the five-year-old didn’t seem to be good at glaring yet. 

“Where’s your mom?” Jeno whispered as a butler came and served him breakfast. Jeno had no idea where the butler came from, but still thanked him nonetheless.  

“She and the elders don’t eat breakfast with us and they typically just eat in their own rooms. They only join us for dinner.” Renjun explained, eating his food.  

Jeno looked around the table and saw Yuta, Jaehyun, Taeyong, and Doyoung eating their food. He smiled at them and bowed his head to say good morning. A few minutes later, Johnny walked into the dining room, clearly still half asleep. Jaehyun laughed when Johnny nearly tripped over a chair, but still offered him the seat next to him. 

The breakfast that was being served was just a simple congee, but Jeno appreciated the soup because he knew that it was extremely cold outside. He wasn’t sure what they would be doing with everyone today, but he just hoped that it would all be indoors.  

Just as Jeno and Renjun finished their breakfast, Sicheng walked into the dining room, already fully dressed to go out for the day.  

“Took you long enough.” Yuta said as Sicheng sat down next to him.  

“I didn’t even take that long to get ready.” Sicheng replied, rolling his eyes. He was also served breakfast and he smiled at Renjun and Jeno before he started to eat.  

Renjun then said something to Kun, who simply put a hand on top of Yangyang’s head as a reply. The young child whined, still clutching his teddy bear. Jeno couldn’t quite understand what they were saying. 

“Sicheng, didn’t you say we’re waiting on one more cousin to arrive? Who is that?” Taeyong spoke as he finished his food. He looked over at the performer, who nodded his head.  

“Chenle is arriving today. We have to pick him up at the airport and then we’re going to visit the performance call to make sure everything is set up.” Sicheng stated, explaining what their plans were for the day. 

Jeno leaned towards Renjun, whispering, “Chenle is the cousin that’s living in America, right?”  

“Yeah, my younger cousin. Let’s go get ready. We fell asleep before I could finish choosing your outfit.” Renjun excused both Jeno and himself from the table, saying that they were going to go get ready. 

It didn’t take long for them to reach Renjun’s room and Jeno was slowly getting used to the house as well. He knew that there was still a whole other wing of the house that he had yet to see. He wondered if there were any other rooms in the house as well, ones that were used for entertaining guests. Jeno wouldn’t be surprised if the house had a ballroom in it.  

“Will your mother be joining us at all today?” Jeno asked once they reached the room. He went back over to the bed and sat down, waiting for Renjun to show him the outfit he had chosen for him. 

Renjun shook his head, “Probably not. She rarely shows herself off in public unless she has a fashion show.” 

Jeno just hummed, letting out a yawn as Renjun passed him a pair of black pants, a loose long-sleeved white shirt, and a black shirt which orange stripes on the sleeves. Jeno raised an eyebrow at the outfit choice, which was much darker than he had originally expected. Renjun just smiled and picked out his own outfit, which seemed to be a matching one. 

The two changed into their clothes and once finished, Renjun walked over to the bathroom. The sink had a cabinet underneath and he searched around it for a few moments before pulling a straightener out of it. Jeno tilted his head, watching as Renjun plugged the straightener into an outlet to turn it on. 

“I’ve never seen you use a straightener before.” Jeno said, leaning against the doorway as he watched Renjun begin to style his hair. 

As he used the straightener to fix his bangs, Renjun smiled, “I don’t really like using one because it’ll dry my hair out. Sicheng ge was the one that first taught me how to use one.” 

Jeno just smiled at Renjun and let him continue to fix his hair. As soon as Renjun was finished and out of the bathroom, Jeno pulled him into a tight hug. He leaned against him, causing Renjun to struggle to hold them both up. Jeno was just being his regular clingy self, so Renjun was quite used to his antics.  

“First stop is the airport to get Chenle, then the performance hall, then maybe we can head over to the shopping center.” Renjun said, looking up to Jeno with a small smile. Jeno nodded and kissed Renjun’s lips softly, making sure not to mess up his hair. 

“What did your cousin Kun say about Yangyang at the table?” Jeno asked, remembered the short encounter during breakfast. 

“Kun ge needs to take Yangyang to his doctor’s appointment, so he was wondering if we could watch the other two. Kun ge and Yangyang won’t be coming with us to the airport or the performance hall.” Renjun explained, mentioning Xiaojun and Hendery.  

“Do they even like me?” Jeno questioned, thinking back at how Yangyang had woken him up earlier.  

Renjun shrugged, “Maybe? I was supposed to be the one to wake you up earlier but Kun ge said that one of the triplets should wake you up. He even told them to speak English after I told him that you can speak just a little bit of that.”  

That would explain why Yangyang spoke English and why the child was even the one to wake him up earlier. Jeno just smiled, remembered his awkward awakening.  

“We should get going. Lucas ge is going to take us in his car to pick up Chenle and Sicheng ge will be the one to drive his friends.” Renjun said, tugging on Jeno’s hand. They left the room after making sure they had everything they needed. As they entered the hallway, they saw Xiaojun and Hendery holding hands with each other and Kun was holding Yangyang in his arms.  

Renjun called out to his cousin, catching the attention of his nephews as well. They spoke to one another once they were in close proximity and while they were talking Xiaojun and Hendery approached Jeno, staring up at him with wide eyes. 

Jeno squatted down to reach the children’s eye-level and slowly started to speak English, “Hello, k-kids.”  

“You sound funny.” Hendery said, still holding his brother’s hand. 

“My English isn’t that good.” Jeno explained, trying his best to remember whatever English vocabulary from his English classes.  

“You sound like papa when he gets nervous.” Xiaojun smiled and it was quite clear he was making fun of how nervous Jeno sounded while speaking English. Jeno just chuckled before Renjun tapped his shoulder, telling him to stand back up.  

Renjun called the kids and Hendery immediately took Renjun’s hand, holding it as they began to walk down the hallway. Jeno walked beside Renjun, thinking that it was cute how close the children were with Renjun. His boyfriend always good with children, even random children they would see whenever they would be out eating at restaurants.  

Once in the foyer, they saw Sicheng and his friends all dressed and ready to go. Lucas was also in the room and Xiaojun rushed over to him as soon as he spotted him.  

“Okay, let’s head to the airport first. Chenle said he only had one luggage so it’ll fit in your car, Lucas.” Sicheng stated, opening the front door for everyone to exit the house. Two cars were waiting in front of the house, but Jeno did not recognize either of them. Instead, he followed Renjun and Lucas as they walked over to the car on the left, which was a black SUV with three rows of seats. Lucas pulled out the keys from his pocket and unlocked the car. Xiaojun and Hendery were still in booster seats and they seemed to know exactly which seat they were sitting in. Xiaojun was seated in the back row and Hendery was seated in the middle row.  

“Is it okay if you sit with Xiaojun in the back? I’ll sit with Hendery in the middle row.” Renjun asked, helping the two children into the car. Jeno nodded, understanding that the children preferred to sit next to someone in the car.  

He climbed into the backseat and smiled at Xiaojun before helping the child get his seatbelt on over his booster seat. Xiaojun was silent, but he was smiling at Jeno all the while when he was helping him, so Jeno was able to relax. Jeno also put on his seat belt, but he scooted forward to sit at the edge of his seat, so that he would be able to play with Renjun’s hair from behind. Renjun didn’t seem to mind it and he even leaned back a bit to give Jeno a better reach.  

Lucas, who was in the driver’s seat, smiled at the two of them through the rearview mirror, “How long have you guys been dating?” 

Jeno kept playing with Renjun’s hair as he made the mental math in his head. He had asked Renjun out on October 10th, which meant that they had been dating for three years and a few months already. Next October would be their fourth year anniversary.  

“Just a bit over three years, Lucas ge.” Renjun answered, turning around to smile at Jeno.  

The drive to the airport was filled with questions from Lucas, who was again asking about Korea and what attractions there were to go sightseeing at. Xiaojun and Hendery even kept asking questions and Renjun would translate and help Jeno answer their questions. In the short time in the car, Renjun and Jeno had even taught the two children a few words in Korean. By the time they reached the airport, Xiaojun and Hendery already knew how to say “uncle Jeno” in Korean and they began repeating it happily.  

Once they reached the airport, Lucas then drove to the garage to park the car, instead of going to the curb like how he picked up Renjun and Jeno. Sicheng and his friends were already at the airport and once Lucas spotted their car, he parked right next to it. 

“Chenle said he just landed, but he’s waiting for his luggage. Should we wait here for him or go meet him?” Sicheng said, getting out of the car he had driven. Instead of getting out of the car, Lucas just rolled his window down to answer his cousin. 

“It’s going to take some time since we have the kids in the car, why don’t you guys go pick him up and we can wait here?” Lucas suggested, pointing over at the kids in the back of his car. Sicheng just chuckled and nodded his head, taking his fiancé and friends into the airport.  

“Uncle Jeno!” Xiaojun chimed, kicking his feet. Jeno beamed at the attention he was getting from the young child and he reached over to pat his head. Xiaojun laughed and kept kicking his feat.  

Jeno was glad he was able to bond with Xiaojun during the car ride. He wondered if he would be able to do the same with Yangyang, who wasn’t with them.  

As Jeno busied himself with interacting with Xiaojun, Lucas and Renjun were busy talking amongst themselves in Cantonese. That reminded Jeno that he still had to ask Renjun exactly how many languages he could speak. Lucas then said something that made Renjun reach over to smack his arm, which caused Jeno to raise an eyebrow at the sight.  

Before he had the chance to ask what the two were talking about, there was a sudden knock at the window. Jeno turned and saw an unfamiliar boy with blonde hair who was peering into the car.  

Renjun then rolled down the window, speaking in Mandarin to the boy. Jeno assumed that it was Chenle because of how Renjun seemed to recognize him. 

“Jeno, this is Chenle. The annoying cousin.” Lucas introduced. Chenle let out a whine, stomping his feet as he went to open the trunk of the car to put away his luggage.  

Tilting his head, Jeno whispered to Renjun, “Chenle can understand Korean?”  

To this, Renjun just shrugged and they waited until Chenle was in the car to ask him. 

“My roommate in school is Korean, we taught each other some stuff.” Chenle explained, getting into the front passenger seat. He waved over at Sicheng and the others who were getting into their car.  

Sicheng and Lucas talked with each other for a moment through their windows, but Jeno just zoned out while reaching over to play with Renjun’s hair again. He wished he was sitting next to him, but he would just have to wait until they were out of the car.  

The rest of the day went by like a blur for Jeno. After picking up Chenle from the airport, they went to visit the performance hall where Sicheng would be performing in the next day. Sicheng and Yuta wanted to check in and make sure everything was going well at the performance hall. Jeno didn’t have much time to walk around and explore because Xiaojun had decided to latch onto him. The child kept holding Jeno’s left hand and Jeno’s right was busy holding Renjun’s hand, who then was also holding onto Hendery. Lucas made a comment saying that they looked like a family, which then made Jeno blush at the thought of it.  

Starting a family with Renjun would be nice... but they were still both young, so there was no rush.  

After visiting the performance hall, Sicheng wanted to bring his friends to the mall to show them around. While at the mall, Jeno was able to get to know more about Sicheng’s friends. Doyoung and Jaehyun both had engineering degrees, but Doyoung working in chemical engineering while Jaehyun worked in biomedical engineering. It was nice being able to talk more about what Jeno could possibly do after his graduation, which was only five months away. 

Taeyong was running his family’s bakery, which was actually only a few blocks away from the apartment Jeno and Renjun lived in. Johnny and Yuta talked with Jeno about their careers as football players. They both had to travel a lot, both within their countries and also abroad. They even offered to invite Jeno and Renjun to watch their matches whenever they were available.  

At the mall, Jeno was able to pick up a few souvenirs for Donghyuck and Mark, who both wanted a gift from China. He bought Mark a mug, which was a pretty generic present, but Mark was fond of drinking coffee so a mug was a sensible gift.  For Donghyuck, he bought a set of colored pencils that were made f some kind of special wood. Renjun was the one that chose the souvenir, saying that it was popular amongst art students. Renjun even picked out a souvenir for Jaemin, a simple keychain for the waiter to attach to his keys.  

The mall was full of people and there were a few times when Sicheng would get stopped by people that Jeno assumed were fans. He smiled politely at them each time and sometimes even took a picture with them. He seemed to have quite the fanbase.  

“I’m glad no one knows what I look like.” Renjun said, tiptoeing a bit to whisper in Jeno’s ear.  

Jeno hummed, “Your mother must get recognized all the time.” 

“She does. That’s one of the reasons why she typically never leaves the house too.” Renjun explained, looking back at the people gathered around Sicheng.  

Jeno then felt Xiaojun tugging on his hand, so he looked down at the child and saw that he was pointing over at an arcade that was in the mall. Hendery, who was still holding onto Renjun, was also staring at the arcade.  

Renjun squatted down to talk to the children, who nodded their heads when asked a question. Renjun chuckled and stood up, his pretty smile now directed at Jeno, “The kids want to go to the arcade. They also want you to win them a prize, apparently.” 

“Why me?” Jeno asked, letting the Xiaojun drag him towards the arcade.  

“I don’t think they think I’m capable of winning them a prize.” Renjun complained, pouting as he and Hendery followed behind Jeno and Xiaojun.  

The arcade was fairly empty, but the two children seemed to know which claw machine they wanted their prize from. The claw machine had stuffed animals in it, all various shades of cats. Jeno, a cat lover since birth, was instantly motivated to win the stuffed animals. He wanted to win one for Renjun as well. 

Renjun took out his wallet and handed Jeno some money, already knowing that Jeno was going to get fired up to win the cats. Xiaojun and Hendery were standing on the side of the claw machine with their faces pressed up against the glass.  

“What color cats do they want?” Jeno asked, trying to strategize which to get first.  

Renjun relayed the question to his nephews and they both answered with something different. Renjun just smiled and nodded his head, “Xiaojun wants the black cat and Hendery wants the gray cat. They also want to know if you can get Yangyang the white cat, so that he won’t get jealous.”  

Jeno nodded his head and inserted the money, planning on getting the black cat that was laying in the middle of the machine, out in the open. Surprisingly, he was able to grab the black cat on his first try and Xiaojun let out a shriek of joy once Jeno handed the stuffed animal over to him. 

“Nice job, love.” Renjun smiled and leaned against the claw machine.  

In that moment, Jeno wanted to stop time and remember it forever. The light inside of the claw machine was shining bright against Renjun, illuminating him in a way that made him seem so angelic. His dark brown hair appeared to be a whole shade lighter, reminding Jeno of when Renjun had his lighter, blond hair. His outfit, which was half covered by his coat, was also luminating under the light. But Renjun’s smile was simply beautiful and before Jeno could control himself, he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Renjun’s lips.  

The children made noises of protest, which Jeno just laughed at. He placed more money into the claw machine and went back to concentrating on getting Hendery his stuffed animal.  

His first try was a failure and Jeno could see through the glass that Hendery looked visibly upset. However, on his second try he was able to grab the gray cat that was in the corner of the machine. Hendery cheered when Jeno handed him the stuffed animal. 

“One more to go.” Renjun said, patting Jeno’s back gently. 

“Two more, actually.” Jeno said, inserting more money to get the final triplet a stuffed animal as well. Renjun furrowed his eyebrows, confused about what Jeno had said, but he said nothing as he let Jeno concentrate on getting the next stuffed animal. The white cat was in an opposite corner, but the tail was sticking out. Jeno knew he had a slim chance of getting it that way, but he still set up the claw to attempt to grab the stuffed animal from that direction. Once he felt like everything was in place, he pressed the button on the lever and held his breath, watching as the claw lowered down towards the stuffed animal. 

To his surprise, the claw did manage to grab onto the stuffed animal’s tail. The claw’s grip was strong enough to pull it up by its tail and get it out of the machine. The two children celebrated by letting out a happy laugh as they were able to get a stuffed animal for their other brother.  

Jeno still had enough money to attempt getting one more, so he quickly inserted the money before Renjun could take the money back. There was an orange tabby cat in the middle of the claw machine and it was in a relatively easy spot for him to grab. Jeno smiled as he won the prize and he gave it to Renjun as soon as he got it out of the machine. 

“There, now we’re all done.” Jeno said, still smiling. Renjun chuckled softly and held the stuffed animal close to him with one hand as he used the other to hold onto Hendery. Jeno then held onto Yangyang’s stuffed animal with one hand and held onto Xiaojun with his other hand.  

When they left the arcade, they could see that Sicheng was no longer surrounded by his fans and that everyone else was gathered together in front of a random store, apparently waiting for them. 

Renjun waved at his cousins as they got closer and Lucas just laughed at all of the stuffed animals.  

“We’ve been out for almost all day and Kun ge said he’s home already. So we’ll head back to the house and just hang out there until dinner.” Lucas said once Jeno and Renjun were close enough. 

“That sounds like a good idea, I think the kids have to take a nap soon anyways.” Renjun said, looking down at Hendery and Xiaojun.  

Then they left the mall, returning to the cars that they had first driven in. On the ride back to the house, Jeno and Chenle were able to talk a bit more, with Renjun translating whenever Chenle would need help explaining something. Chenle was still in a bit of trouble with his parents for going to America, but his grades were good enough for them to overlook the fact that he tricked them. He was an architect major, which would eventually help him whenever he had to take over his family’s business. Lucas was in charge of operating the hotels and Chenle was going to be in charge of designing the buildings.  

Chenle was a very cheerful person, even when he struggled with speaking Korean. Whoever his roommate was in California had done a good job teaching him the foreign language.  

It wasn’t long until they reached the house and Jeno could see another car in the driveway, one that probably belonged to Kun. 

As soon as the car was parked and the car doors were open, Xiaojun and Hendery unbuckled their seatbelts and rushed out. Lucas called out to them, but the children kept running in the snow towards the front door.  

Hendery tripped and Xiaojun laughed to him, but the two made it to the front door nonetheless.  

It wasn’t quite dinner time, but Lucas suggested that they hang out in the billiard room. Renjun agreed, feeling excited to compete against his cousins in a game of billiards. Jeno wasn’t that great at billiards and apparently neither was Yuta, so the two sat off to the side and watched everyone play instead. The triplets were playing with the stuffed animals on the floor, keeping the two company. 

“You know, I can tell how much you love Renjun.” Yuta said with a wide smile on his face.  

Jeno blushed at the statement, “How so?” 

“Your eyes, they never leave him. I can also tell that you guys have been dating for a long time, because of how you interact.” Yuta explained, the smile still evident on his face. Jeno then looked over to Renjun, who was pointing his cue stick at Chenle and yelling in Mandarin.  

“How did you propose to Sicheng hyung, if you don’t mind me asking.” Jeno said, his gaze still focused on Renjun. He smiled when Sicheng reached over to mess up Renjun’s hair, followed by Kun doing the exact same thing. 

Yuta followed Jeno’s gaze, but his was more focused on Sicheng, “It was hard. We had been dating for five years when I finally proposed to him, but I knew that he was going to have to choose between me and his family.”  

Jeno nodded his head, a frown growing on his face. Renjun would have to face the same thing, if he ever...  

“This family... they are very controlling. Each and every one of them have a specific role they are supposed to fill. They all have a long list of potential suitors too and when Sicheng first told me that, I knew I had to do something about it.” Yuta continued on to say, a small smile on his face.  

“Even Renjun?” Jeno questioned. Renjun had never mentioned anything about any suitors.  

“Renjun especially. Sicheng said that Renjun is going to become the head of the family when he’s ready. His mother has been wanting to set him up with someone with powerful connections, but ever since he was a child, Renjun refused. That’s one of the reasons why he left China was because he wanted to get away from his mother.”   

Before Jeno had the chance to reply, a yell interrupted him. He looked back at the billiards table and saw that Doyoung and Taeyong laughed at Jaehyun, who had apparently missed his shot. Even Renjun was smiling at the older man’s failure at a shot. Chenle had burst into laughter as well, getting along well with Sicheng’s friends. 

“It’s nice being together like this. Hopefully we can all be together again like this.” Yuta said, smiling over at his friends. 

Jeno tilted his head, confused, “What about your wedding?”  

“We aren’t having a ceremony because we don’t want to draw too much attention to us. Maybe one day, on an anniversary we can have a ceremony, but for now we’re just signing paperwork and calling it a day.” Yuta replied, lifting his hand up to stare at the silver engagement ring.  

It was a simple band of jewelry, but it meant so much more.  

“Dinner is going to start soon, let’s head to the dining hall.” Sicheng announced, placing his cue stick back on the billiard table. Renjun nodded his head and did the same to his stick, before making his way over to Jeno. Standing up from his seat, Jeno opened his arms up to capture his boyfriend in a hug. 

“Have fun talking with Yuta hyung?” Renjun asked, wrapping his arms around Jeno’s waist.  

“Mhmm, it was nice to get to know him more.” Jeno replied, kissing Renjun’s forehead softly. The two smiled at each other and left the billiard room hand in hand.  

As they walked towards the dining room, Jeno could feel himself becoming more and more nervous at the thought of seeing Renjun’s mother again. She had made it clear about what she wanted for Renjun’s future, but she didn’t mention what kind of role Jeno may play.  

Everyone sat in the same seats they had sat in the night before. The elders were already waiting at the table and were talking to each other as everyone got situated in their chairs. Moments later, Renjun’s mother showed up, wearing something more casual than the previous night. Instead of wearing a dress, Renjun’s mother was wearing a pair of white pants and a black blouse. It was simple, but she made it look very elegant. Her long hair was pulled back into a low braid, resting on her shoulder.  

“Good evening.” She greeted, her face void of any emotion.  

Jeno bowed his head, like everyone else, in respect when she sat at the table. Soon after she was seated, the butlers made an appearance again, serving dinner for the family. As the plate of food was placed in front of him, Jeno wondered when the butlers would be able to eat. He hadn’t seen any maids yet, but he wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few lingering around the house.  

All throughout dinner, Jeno kept sneaking glances towards Renjun’s mother, wondering if she still wanted Renjun to return to China. He didn’t want to bring it up though, because he was scared of Renjun’s answer.  

Dinner went on quietly, with everyone just making small talk to one another. Renjun kept stealing food from Jeno’s plate, taking all of the vegetables Jeno didn’t like to eat. Renjun didn’t seem to mind the looks of disapproval the elders were sending his way and they probably thought it was rude of him to take some of Jeno’s food.  

As dinner continued on, Jeno started to grow worried that Renjun’s mother was going to make another announcement. However, she remained quiet during dinner and as soon as she and the elders were finished, she left the table quietly.  

“That was strange.” Renjun mumbled, staring at his mother as she left the dining room. Jeno hummed in agreement. He really was expecting her to say something.  

“Since auntie has left already, what do you and Jeno have planned for tomorrow?” Sicheng asked.  

Renjun smiled and leaned his head against Jeno’s shoulder, “We’re going to visit some places tomorrow and I want to visit father as well.”  

Jeno blinked at the mention of Renjun’s father, who he rarely spoke of. All Jeno knew about his father was that he had passed away when he was just an infant, only a few months old and that was the reason why Renjun knew little about his own father.  

“Just be careful in the snow, okay? You haven't driven your car in years, but I’ve made sure the butlers have been checking on it every month, so it should work fine.” Lucas said and Jeno looked down at his shoulder towards Renjun. He never mentioned having a driver’s license at all.  

“You didn’t tell me you could drive.” Jeno said, quite surprised about this. He and Renjun typically took the bus or subway whenever they wanted to go somewhere. They didn’t even own a car. 

“We don’t need to drive in Korea. Maybe we can get a car once we graduate.” Renjun said, smiling cheekily at Jeno, who blushed a bright pink at the sight of his smile.  

“You guys are gross.” Chenle chimed in, his mouth full of food. Sicheng frowned at the younger boy’s lack of table manners and simply threw a napkin at him. Chenle laughed and threw the napkin right back at him.  

Renjun then stood up from the table, signaling Jeno to do the same. They waved goodnight to everyone before leaving the dining room to return to their room for the night.  

They got read to head to bed like clockwork, already used to each other’s nightly routines. Jeno would use the bathroom first, washing his face and brushing his teeth as Renjun would organize the things he would need for the next day. Jeno wasn’t fond of taking showers at night, but Renjun was, so once Jeno was finished using the bathroom, Renjun would take over and wash up.  

Jeno would get into bed first, scrolling through his phone or reading his textbook. Renjun would soon join him, laying on Jeno’s chest for a few minutes as Jeno would pull him into a hug.  

That was their nightly routine and just like in Korea, they followed it in China.  

Once in bed, Renjun snuggled up close to Jeno. Their legs somehow got tangled under the blanket, but Jeno didn’t mind it at all. 

“Mother won’t be home tomorrow, so you can choose your outfit.” Renjun said softly. Jeno could hear the humor in his voice quite clearly. 

Jeno hummed sleepily, “I’m gonna look cute in whatever I wear.” 

“You always look cute anyways.” Renjun chuckled and pressed a soft kiss to Jeno’s cheek.  

In just a few short minutes, Renjun fell asleep on Jeno’s shoulder. It was a bit uncomfortable, but Jeno didn’t mind it at all.  

He fell asleep soon afterwards to the sound of Renjun’s soft breathing and steady heartbeat.  

 

. 

 

The next day, after breakfast with Renjun’s family, Jeno found himself in the garage with Renjun. It was cold out, so Jeno decided to wear jeans, a thick hoodie and a padded jacket, along with a beanie that would keep his head warm. Renjun, on the other hand, was wearing jeans and a black turtleneck along with his favorite dark brown trench coat. In Jeno’s opinion, Renjun looked like a rich kid from a drama.  

But then again, he was a rich kid with a famous mother, so he fit the part. 

The garage was basically a parking lot due to the size of it. There were seven cars, all lined up and parked perfectly. Jeno saw the car that Lucas used to pick them up from the airport, the car that Sicheng used the day before, and also the car that Lucas used as well. There were a few more cars as well, but the one at the very end of the lineup was the one car that caught Jeno’s attention. 

It was one of those fancy American brands, one that ran on electricity instead of gasoline. Jeno really only knew the brand because his engineering classmates would often talk about it and how it ran on a different resource. He had never seen one in Korea.  

“You’re kidding...” Jeno gasped, seeing the car’s headlights light up as Renjun got closer to the car. 

This was  _his_  car.  

“It was a gift from Kun ge when I turned sixteen. He had it imported from America after one of his business trips there.” Renjun said quietly, opening the door to the driver’s side. Jeno followed after and got into the passenger’s side. 

The interior was all leather and smelled brand new, as if it was just made. Jeno remembered that the car hadn’t been used in nearly four years, but it looked like regular maintenance was done to it.  

The car didn’t need a key to start, rather just a push of a button. Renjun started the car and put on his seatbelt, adjusting the mirrors as the car started to heat up. Jeno kept looking around the car and feeling the seats. He glanced in the back and to his surprise, realized that the car only had room for two people.  

“Let’s bring this car back to Korea.” Jeno decided once Renjun started to drive out of the garage. A butler was waited at the opening and Renjun waved at him as they left the garage.  

Jeno had never seen Renjun drive before, so it was a very interesting (and attractive) sight. Renjun drove with two hands on the steering wheel, concentrating on the road ahead of him, “You can turn on the radio if you want.” 

“Everything is in Mandarin though.” Jeno pouted but did what he was told. Alas, everything was in Mandarin, but it made the ride more comfortable for the both of them.  

They only had two more days left in China, but Jeno didn’t want to leave yet. Renjun had such a big family and everyone was so welcoming. But he knew that the bliss wouldn’t last forever, not with what Renjun’s mother had said.  

Jeno still couldn’t bring himself to mention it to Renjun. He was fearful for the answer.  

Before Jeno could let himself dwell deeper in his thoughts, Renjun had arrived at the first place he had wanted to take Jeno. It was a magnificent looking school, one that looked like it had a history behind it.  

“It’s still the winter break for students, but there’s a way in we can use.” Renjun stated as he pulled up to the building.  

Instead of going through the main doors of the school, Renjun lead Jeno to a side door that required a keycode to get in. Somehow, Renjun knew what the keycode was, so they were able to enter without any problems.  

Once inside, Jeno could see that this was probably a high school. There were plenty of lockers and the classrooms weren’t decorated in a childish manner. 

“This is the art high school my mother sent me to.” Renjun explained as he walked throughout the hallway. He smiled at Jeno and took his hand, guiding him throughout the hallways.  

He talked about all his friends in high school and the teachers he had to deal with. Even though Renjun came from such a wealthy family, he had a fairly normal high school experience. It was probably due to the fact that no one knew who he really was.  

This was where Renjun fell in love with art. He told Jeno that ever since he was a child, there was pressure from his family to become a fashion designer. While he didn’t really mind it, what Renjun really wanted to do was paint artwork for people to admire. He never really had a choice in his career though, so he settled for studying fashion design. 

The two didn’t spend much time in the school, mainly because staying in an empty school for so long was creepy and Jeno got freaked out when he thought he heard a noise from down the hallway.  

After leaving the school, Jeno couldn’t help but grow curious about where they were going to go next. 

“It’s a surprise, Jen. Stop asking.” Renjun said, no malice in his voice whatsoever. He smiled at Jeno, who then leaned over a bit to kiss his cheek.  

The drive was short, but filled with beautiful scenery. The sky was bright, but with snow falling ever so softly. They seemed to be driving into a city, due to the number of increasing skyrises that Jeno was seeing. The city was unfamiliar, but Renjun seemed to know where he was going. 

“Time for lunch.” Renjun said as he drove up to one of the tall buildings. There was a valet waiting for the at the entrance of the building. Renjun said something to the valet as he got out of the car and the valet just nodded and smiled politely.  

Jeno got out of the car and took a quick look around, trying to figure out where exactly Renjun had taken them for lunch.  

“This is the fanciest Korean food restaurant we have in this city. I figured we could have some food to remind us of home.” Renjun stated as they walked into the restaurant. 

Jeno smiled at the mention of home. He wasn’t sure of Renjun was aware of what he had said, but it still made his heart swell with emotion. Renjun spoke to the hostess that greeted them at the door and she quickly seated them at a booth that was away from the rest of the people eating in the restaurant. The menu also had Korean in it, so Jeno was finally able to read and understand it.  

While having lunch, Jeno couldn’t help but take a few pictures of Renjun. He had developed a habit of taking a picture of Renjun whenever they were eating, but was unable to do it during breakfast and dinner when Renjun’s family was around. In fact, most of his Instagram posts were of Renjun eating. It was a cute aesthetic he wanted to keep up with. 

Again, Jeno had the opportunity to ask Renjun about what his mother had said, but he didn’t take it. Renjun looked too happy, being able to relax and spend time with Jeno after a few days with his family.  

“We’ll go visit father after this. It’s a long drive though, so you might end up falling asleep.” Renjun said once he had finished his meal.  

Jeno stopped mid-bite to reply, “Are you going to be okay driving?”  

“I’ve made the drive by myself before, so I should be fine.” Renjun replied, a small smile on his face as he watched Jeno eat.  

“I’ll try my best to stay awake, but you know how I get after I eat.” Jeno sighed and pat his full stomach, causing Renjun to laugh before calling over a waiter to get the check. Jeno wanted to pay for their meal, but Renjun just stuck his tongue out at him as he handed the waiter his own card.  

When the two exited the restaurant, Renjun saw the same valet that hard parked their car. The young man went off to get the car as Renjun and Jeno waited.  

“Think we can make out in the car before we go?” Jeno said, chuckling softly as he stood behind Renjun, placing his chin on his boyfriend’s shoulder. 

“How crude.” Renjun laughed, leaning back against Jeno. That was most definitely a no, so Jeno just sighed.  

The valet then arrived with the car and Renjun gave him a generous tip before getting back into the driver’s seat. As Jeno put on his seatbelt, he started to mess with the radio, trying to find a station to listen. Just like before, all the stations were in Mandarin so he settled on one that appeared to be playing pop music.  

Renjun definitely wasn’t kidding when he said that the drive was going to be a long one. Jeno eventually did fall asleep after only forty minutes, even though he tried hard not to. Renjun’s soft humming was what lulled him to sleep, so there was no use trying to fight it. 

 

. 

 

The nap felt like is lasted hours, but Jeno was awakened by someone shaking his shoulder gently. 

“Jeno, love. Wake up.” Renjun’s voice said softly, still shaking Jeno’s shoulder. 

Jeno groaned and slowly opened his eyes, rubbing them to fully wake up. He looked out the window and saw that they were in a cemetery, so he immediately sat up straight, “Okay, okay. I’m up.”  

Renjun just smiled and kissed Jeno’s lips softly before getting out of the car. Jeno did the same, stretching his arms as he stepped out of the car and into the cold. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, but luckily for the both of them it had stopped snowing.  

“Let’s go.” Renjun said, taking Jeno’s hand in his.  

The sun was shining brightly in the sky despite the fact that it was now beginning to set and it was reflecting against the snow. It was nearly blinding, but Jeno simply held Renjun’s hand and followed him through the burial grounds. Jeno wasn’t knowledgeable about the rituals that Chinese would follow when burying the dead, but from what he could see, Renjun’s father appeared to be buried in a traditional manner.  

After walking for a few minutes, Renjun’s steps finally came to a stop at a certain tombstone. Jeno couldn’t read what was engraved into the stone, but Renjun read everything softly, more to himself than to Jeno. Once Renjun finished reading, he and Jeno bowed to show their respects to Renjun’s father. 

“Are you okay?” Jeno asked after minutes of silence from his boyfriend. He looked over and saw that Renjun had tears in his eyes, waiting to fall. Jeno smiled sadly and wrapped his arms around Renjun, pulling him into a tight hug.  

“It’s okay to cry...” Jeno said softly, rubbing Renjun’s back in an attempt to console him.  

That was all it took for Renjun to burst into tears, crying loudly much like a child would. The cemetery was empty, so Renjun’s cries were echoing, which only made him sound more sorrowful. Jeno’s hold on his boyfriend tightened, feeling helpless in moments like these. 

Renjun was a strong person. He never cried when he was sad or burdened with school.  

But he was still human, and losing his father so early in his life had affected him greatly. Growing up without a father and having a mother that was rarely around must have been rough for Renjun. Jeno couldn’t imagine how that felt, especially because he himself came from such a loving home. This must have been the reason why Renjun seemed to enjoy spending so much time with Jeno’s own family.  

Renjun continued to cry for a few more minutes, until he was completely out of tears. He looked up at Jeno, who could see the heartbroken expression on his face, “I ruined your hoodie.” 

Jeno glanced down and saw that his hoodie was now stained with tears, but he just smiled and shook his head at Renjun. 

“You didn’t ruin anything, Renjun. You never have.” Jeno replied, kissing Renjun’s forehead softly.  

“Is it okay if we go home now? I don’t want it to be too dark.” Renjuns said softly, looking back down at his father’s tombstone. Jeno followed his gaze and nodded his head, taking Renjun’s hand. The two bowed once more to the tombstone before making their way back to the car.  

The two didn't say a word to one another as they walked to the car. They were comfortable in this silence. The drive back to the house was also filled with silence, so Jeno turned the radio on once again.  

As Renjun concentrated on the road, Jeno glimpsed at him from time to time. A small frown was etched upon Renjun’s face, meaning he was probably thinking about something important. Jeno wanted to give Renjun some space for the time being, knowing that he still had much to contemplate after finally seeing his family in so long. 

Tomorrow would be Sicheng’s final performance as a dancer in China. Jeno wondered if Renjun would become emotional about this, even though he wasn’t a part of the performance at all.  

“For the performance tomorrow, is it formal attire?” Jeno asked, breaking the silence in hopes of distracting Renjun from whatever he was thinking about. 

Renjun nodded his head, “Semi-formal, at best. I packed your black dress pants and your lucky dress shirt.”  

Jeno smiled at the mention of his lucky dress shirt. It was actually something that Renjun had designed and made for one of his fashion design classes during his sophomore year. It was really just a regular dress shirt, but Renjun had tailored it especially for Jeno, so it was basically his lucky dress shirt.  

It was fun having Renjun measure him for the shirt too. They had spent more time making out than actually getting measurements. But that was a whole other story. 

Nearly half an hour later, Renjun finally pulled into the driveway at the front of the house. The sun had finally set by the time they had arrived. Butlers were waiting for them with smiles on their faces as they exited the car to get into the house.  

“Hey, dinner is about to start.” Sicheng was walking down the staircase with Yuta when Renjun and Jeno walked through the front door. Jeno bowed his head to greet the two of them. 

“Are you nervous about tomorrow, ge?” Renjun asked as the four of them walked to the dining room. Sicheng just smiled at Renjun before replying in Mandarin. 

The two cousins walked side by side, with their partners walking behind them. Jeno smiled at the height difference between the two, thinking that it was cute how Renjun also had to look up to talk to Sicheng. 

“When do you and Renjun have to return to Korea?” Yuta asked, pulling Jeno’s attention away from Renjun.  

Jeno paused for a moment to think, “We leave on Sunday, the day after tomorrow. We’re both on break for school but Renjun didn’t want to stay too long in China.” 

“That’s too bad. But I guess Renjun probably just doesn’t want to be pressured by his mother.” Yuta said, glancing at the younger Chinese boy.  

Jeno nodded his head, agreeing with what Yuta had said. When they were first deciding on how long they were going to stay in China, Jeno had initially suggested that they stay at least a week, but Renjun had shut down the idea almost immediately. The two then agreed to only be in China for five days and four nights.  

By the time the four had arrived to the dinner hall, Renjun’s mother was already seated and talking with Kun at the table. Yangyang was seated on her lap, holding onto the same teddy bear Jeno had seen with him the day before.  

“Took you guys long enough.” Lucas said as the latecomers took their seats.  

Dinner was the same as the last two nights, everyone was just talking amongst themselves and enjoying the food. It took a few minutes for Yangyang to finally sit in his own seat, but the young child was seated across from Jeno, which meant he spent most of his time just staring at Jeno. They engaged in a very serious staring contest while dessert was being served and Jeno was about to win, but was interrupted by Renjun’s mother speaking to everyone at the table.  

Renjun translated for Jeno as Sicheng translated for Yuta and his friends. 

“As we all know, tomorrow is Sicheng’s final performance. We must be at the performance hall an hour before the show, because I want to try my best to avoid any photographers or paparazzi that may show up.” Renjun started to translate, keeping his gaze upon his mother. 

“Then the day after, Renjun will be going back to Korea. I hope he makes the right decision after he graduates and returns to us here in China. However, that is an issue we must address another day.” Renjun flinched at the mention of his name and just sighed as he finished translating his mother.  

Jeno reached over and placed his hand on Renjun’s thigh, patting it gently. Renjun smiled at Jeno and placed his hand on top of Jeno’s. 

“Tomorrow we will all be taking the family cars. The kids, Kun ge, Chenle and I will be in one car and you guys can all squeeze into another.” Lucas said, finishing up with his dessert. Jeno looked over and saw that Lucas had actually started to eat Chenle’s dessert as well.  

Once dinner was over and Renjun’s mother had retired for the night, Jeno and Renjun returned to their room. Renjun was visibly tired after the day’s events and he climbed into bed right after washing up. Jeno, on the other hand, was already starting to pack their things in their luggage, knowing that they may not have enough time to do it tomorrow. 

Renjun was laying on the bed, watching Jeno with a small smile on his face, “Did you know that we only have five more months until we graduate?”  

“That means I have five more months to figure out what engineering field I want to work in.” Jeno complained, folding up some of Renjun’s clothes. 

“Five months is a long time! Talk with Mark about it and see what he’s going into. He might give you some ideas.” Renjun replied as he continued to watch Jeno. It only took him a few more minutes to finish up what he was packing before he was able to join Renjun in bed. 

“Remind me again why I decided to major in engineering.” Jeno said sleepily, his arms naturally finding their way around Renjun’s waist. 

Renjun hummed, “Not a clue, but you’re good at it so you must be meant for it.” 

“That’s true. I’ll try to decide within the next couple months so that I don’t freak out in the middle of graduation.” Jeno chuckled and kissed Renjun’s forehead softly,  

“You’ll be fine. I believe in you.” Were the last words Jeno heard from Renjun before he finally fell asleep.  

Renjun smiled at Jeno’s sleeping face and whispered softly as he also started to doze off, “I... just don’t know if I’ll be okay without you.”  

 

. 

 

The next day was very busy for everyone in the house. Sicheng had left in the early morning to prepare for his performance, but his friends were also busy, trying to figure out what to give Sicheng after his performance. 

“Why don’t you just give him flowers?” Jeno suggested during breakfast as Doyoung and Taeyong argued about what to give. 

“That’s what I said, but these two said flowers were too plain.” Jaehyun sighed and let Doyoung and Taeyong argue a bit more.  

From what Jeno could hear, Taeyong thought it would be nice to also get Sicheng a stuffed animal, along with flowers. Doyoung, on the other hand, said that a stuffed animal was childish and that they should get him something more mature. 

“Don’t you have anything to add, Yuta hyung?” Doyoung asked, catching the surprised football player off guard as he was in the middle of talking to Johnny. 

“I have my present for him already. So this isn’t my problem.” Yuta replied, sticking his tongue out at his friends.  

Jeno laughed at Doyoung’s hopeless expression, but he had a feeling they were going to give Sicheng flowers anyways. He and Renjun had gotten Sicheng a new watch, one that was quite expensive but the brand was well-known around the world.  

Renjun was busy with trying to make sure everyone was wearing a decent, semi-formal outfit. Apparently, Sicheng was worried that his friends would dress too casually, so Renjun was assigned with deciding nearly everyone’s outfits.  

The hours went by fast as everyone got ready. Renjun’s mother even had some professionals show up to help style everyone’s hair, which was a very new experience for Jeno. He only ever had his hair styled the same exact way, so having someone style is a different way was interesting.  

The children were also being particularly rowdy, so Kun had a hard time trying to keep them under control. Jeno volunteered to play with them to give Kun a break, so he and the triplets played a very intense game of hide-and-seek around the house. Jeno won, of course, but he definitely had a hard time finding the children, especially when Xiaojun thought it was a good idea to climb into the empty fireplace in the foyer. Chenle had also joined the game, but he was always the first person to be found because he couldn’t contain his laughter in his hiding spots. 

“Alright, the cars are in front. Let’s get going.” Renjun said as he saw two vans parked in front.  

“What about your mother?” Jeno asked, walking out of the house. He made his way towards the second van, knowing that he would be riding in it. 

“She’s in her private car. I think she already left too.” Renjun answered, as he climbed into the third row of the car. Renjun was sitting on the window side and Jeno was in the middle with Yuta next to him. The order of the second row was Doyoung, Taeyong, and Jaehyun. Johnny was seated in the front passenger seat, saying that he needed the leg room.  

The performance hall was a short fifteen minute drive away, but when they arrived Jeno was surprised to see the long line of people that were waiting to get into the hall. The line started off at the entrance and wrapped around the building, but Renjun and his family didn’t mind the line at all and just went straight towards the entrance. Kun had said something to the security guard, who then let all of them in.  

The seats inside of the performance hall were very similar to those of a regular theater. No one else was seated yet, but Kun led the way to the front row of seats by the stage. Naturally, Jeno was sitting next to Renjun, whose mother showed up shortly after they had taken their seats. She had two body guards with her who were standing to the side of her aisle seat. 

Soon after they were in their seats, the long line of people waiting inside were allowed to come inside. It only took a few minutes until the hall became fully packed. A few people had tried to approach Renjun’s mother, but the bodyguards cut them all off.  

Suddenly, the lights in the performance hall all turned off except for the lights illuminating the stage. The crowed fell into silence as smoke rolled onto the raised stage and two dancers, both wearing traditional robes and blindfolds stepped onto the stage.  

Jeno could tell that they both were not Sicheng, but they were amazing dancers nonetheless. Soft music started to play in the background, as if introducing the performance that was about to happen. The dancers had smooth movement and they seemed to flow together perfectly like water in a stream. Jeno was captivated the entire time they were dancing. 

“Sicheng ge will show up later, at the very end. All of these dancers are the new ones.” Renjun whispered, leaning his head against Jeno’s shoulder as he watched the dancers. After minutes of dancing the two dancers were joined by three more, all dressed similarly. They started a dance in unison with one another and the music was growing in intensity. From what Jeno could hear, he could tell that the music was definitely playing live. The orchestra and band were probably located behind the stage.  

The dances continued on, with more and more dancers showing up on stage. It seemed as if the dancers were rotating, with some dancers carefully leaving the stage when more dancers showed up. Jeno got incredibly immersed in the performance the dancers were giving and he found himself wondering how long they had all been training. He knew that many people, himself included, considered this to be a form of art.  

After an hour had passed, Jeno could tell that Sicheng was going to make his appearance soon. All of the dancing seemed to be building up, meaning the end of the performance was soon approaching.  

Moments later, a masked figure appeared on the stage. His clothes were different compared to the other dancers, so it wasn’t difficult to see that it was Sicheng. His clothes were dark navy robes along with what appeared to leggings on his legs. The sleeves were quite long, much longer than his own arms, so it made every movement he made seem much gentler and sharper than they actually were.  

The dancers, along with Sicheng, all danced in harmony with one another as the music increased in volume. The smoke machine was now stopped, allowing the audience to see all of the movements clearly.  

Sicheng was a captivating sight, even with the white mask that covered his eyes and nose. His dancing was so smooth, even with the high level of difficulty of the dance. Soon enough, Sicheng was left alone in the middle of the stage and he carefully took off his mask, revealing his smiling face. The audience let out an applause, but Sicheng lifted a hand, signaling he wasn’t quite finished yet. 

He reached a hand into his robe and pulled out two paper hand fans, flicking his wrists quickly to open both fans. With one fan in each hand, Sicheng’s movements become incredibly more bold and captivating. He thrusts his arms into the air, fanning through it as he raises one of his legs and jumps into an aerial cartwheel. The crowd marvels at the moment and even Jeno is impressed at how strong Sicheng actually is. He leaped across the stage, using his fans as extensions of his own arms. 

Jeno wasn’t sure how much time had passed after Sicheng had started to dance. He was so immersed with watching the dancer that he didn’t realize it was over until Sicheng made a final bow with a magnificent smile on his face. 

Looking over, Jeno could see that Renjun and his family were all smiling back up at Sicheng as they clapped their hands. Even Renjun’s mother, who Jeno still hadn’t seen smile, seemed to be beaming up at her nephew. Then the audience started to stand, giving Sicheng a standing ovation for his performance and Jeno knew that it was well-deserved.  

“Come on, let’s get to the car before it gets too crowded outside.” Renjun said softly, taking Jeno’s hand as they followed Kun out of the row they were sitting in.  

The rest of the night went by in a blur. After the performance, Sicheng, who was still in his makeup, met them outside to thank them for coming. Yuta’s smile was nearly blinding as he pulled Sicheng into his arms to congratulate him on his performance. They were then all ushered into their cars, apparently going out for an expensive dinner.  

It was probably the most expensive food Jeno would ever get to eat in his entire lifetime. 

Not only did this restaurant have the Chinese food that Jeno was used to, but there were other cuisines available to eat as well. Chenle, thanks to his American taste buds, ordered a thick steak that looked absolutely delicious.  

Everyone was happy during dinner, including Renjun’s normally stoic mother. She kept complimenting Sicheng about his performance. It was almost as if he wasn’t going to leave the family. 

After dinner, everyone again piled into their cars to return to the house after a long night.  

They were all exhausted by the time they returned to the house, so everyone retired to their room as soon as they arrived. Once back in their room, Jeno and Renjun were busy packing their things back into their luggage. They would get an earful by all of their friends if they were to forget any of the souvenirs they had bought. 

“Jeno...” Renjun called softly as he emerged from the bathroom. There was a look of worry on his face that caused Jeno to hesitate before answering him, “Yes, babe?” 

“Do you remember what my mother mentioned on the first night we were here?” Renjun asked, walking closer to Jeno who was seated at the edge of the bed.  

Jeno nodded, dread immediately filling his heart. He couldn’t bring himself to speak.  

“I have to seriously consider it... because my family is important to me.” Renjun smiled sadly, reaching a hand up to caress Jeno’s cheek softly. He tiptoed up to press his lips against Jeno’s softly, whispering as he pulled away, “but I love you and you’re also important to me.”  

Letting out a sigh of relief at Renjun’s words, Jeno wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s shoulders and kissed the top of his head.  

He was going to give Renjun some time. 

That was all he could really do. 

 

. 

 

The next day, after saying goodbye to all of the family, Lucas took Renjun and Jeno back to the airport. He had promised to visit them sometime in the new couple months since he was going to have a meeting in Korea for business.  

Luckily for both Renjun and Jeno, the two still had a few lefts for their winter break. So when they were finally back at their apartment, they spent most of their time just being lazy. They were able to visit Jeno’s family on Christmas and New Year’s, much to Jeno’s younger sister’s delight. She still had her little crush on Renjun and actually spent more time with him than her own brother. Jeno’s parents were happy to see Renjun as well and they had many questions about their trip to China. 

Renjun conveniently left out his mother’s name and occupation. 

And just like that, after the holidays were over, Renjun and Jeno found themselves in their last semester of college. They were both taking major classes that they needed to pass in order to graduate, so whenever they were home and not doing anything, they used to time to study and do whatever assignments they had to do. However, even though they were both busy, they still made the time to spend time with one another.  

Their last semester went by in a blink of an eye and before Jeno knew it, it was the night before their graduation. He and Renjun had been so busy with their final exams and preparing for graduation, that Jeno nearly forgot about what had happened in China. Renjun’s mother would be attending the graduation with Lucas and Kun with her, so Renjun didn't have much time left until he would have to decide what he was going to do.  

Jeno never mentioned it.  

Not once. 

“I wish we could be sitting next to each other during the ceremony.” Renjun commented as he tried on his cap and gown for the umpteenth time that night. Jeno was already in bed, but he watched Renjun with an amused smile on his face. Renjun was by the mirror in the corner of the room, looking over his outfit. 

“You already know that departments get seated separately. Besides, you get to sit with Donghyuck, so you should be fine.” Jeno replied as he waited for Renjun to finally join him in bed.  

Renjun spun around and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He kept adjusting and readjusting the cap until he was happy with the way that it sat upon his head.  

After a few more minutes of mindless posing in front of the mirror, Renjun finally took off his cap and gown and joined Jeno in bed. He snuggled up close to his boyfriend and pressed a few kisses on his neck before smiling. 

“I love you.” Renjun declared, his smile so wide that it was showing his small dimple on his left cheek. Jeno loved when he smiled like that, because those smiles from Renjun were completely genuine.  

Jeno leaned in closer, murmuring softly against Renjun’s lips, “I love you too.” He kissed Renjun softly before wrapping his arms around his waist.  

They fell asleep just like that, just like they always do.  

 

. 

 

Renjun and Jeno barely saw each other the next morning. They both had to wake up early and get dressed for the ceremony, but besides that, they were not able to spend time together.  

Since they were in two different departments and had two completely different majors, they were separated from one another early on in the day. Their university had a large graduating class, so to keep things organized they were also separated into different parts of the auditorium where the graduation ceremony was happening. 

Their morning consisted on practicing the procession into the auditorium, which exhausted Jeno to no end because someone in the medical department kept tripping over their own feet as he entered the auditorium. They practiced about four times to ensure that everyone would remember their cues to walk and where they were seated. 

An hour before the ceremony began, the students were all rushed out of the auditorium to give the audience time to settle into their seats. Jeno was beginning to grow jittery at the wait, but he was able to spot his family in the crowd as they entered. They waved back to him, but didn’t dilly dally for long because they wanted to grab good seats. Unfortunately, Jeno was unable to catch sight of Renjun’s family. 

Once crowd was all settled and in their seats, the graduation march began.  

Renjun’s department was in front of Jeno’s, so he would be entering the auditorium first. Jeno couldn’t help the smile that was on his face as he and Renjun managed to make eye contact right before he was going to walk into the auditorium. 

It was quick, but Renjun was able to mouth the words ‘I love you’ to Jeno right before he stepped into the auditorium.  

He walked with poise down the aisle to his seat and Jeno couldn’t keep his eyes off of him, even as he himself walked into the auditorium. 

The ceremony was very standard, but also very boring. The head of the school made a long speech talking about how today’s youth is tomorrow’s future. He wished all of the soon-to-be graduates good luck with the rest of their lives and hoped that they all found good careers to help their nation. 

Then after his speech, a student from each department made a short speech. Jaemin was chosen from the education department to give the speech and as soon as he stood up at the podium, cheers erupted from Jeno, Donghyuck, Mark, and Renjun. Jaemin glared at his friends for a split second before starting his speech. 

After all of the student speeches were done, the administers of the school started to call up the students by name to hand them their diplomas. This was an even longer process, but Jeno was proud of his fellow classmates. He had started to daydream during this and nearly missed his cue to stand up, but he was lucky to have Mark sitting next to him and Mark was able to gently nudge Jeno to stand up to receive his diploma.   

Even though the art department was seated first, they were listed to receive their diplomas after the engineering department. So once Jeno was back in his seat, diploma in hand, he was able to watch Renjun stand up and walk up to the stage to receive his diploma. He cheered for his boyfriend and he was sure he heard Lucas and Kun cheering somewhere in the auditorium as well. 

Once all of the students received their diploma, the head of the school said a few final words before declaring everyone to be graduated. Jeno threw his cap into the air along with Mark and both of them immediately regretted it after realizing that they probably were never going to find their caps ever again. 

He rushed over to where his parents and sister were in the crowd, giving them all hugs while they exclaimed how proud they were of him. Donghyuck then appeared with his parents, Jeno’s aunt and uncle, and they exchanged hugs all around. 

“Jeno! Congrats!” A familiar voice called out from behind Jeno. 

He quickly turned around and saw Lucas walking over with an arm around Renjun, whose smile appeared to be happy and grateful, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Kun was with them as well and he was holding onto a bouquet of flowers.  

Jeno blinked, knowing that the smile was fake. 

Before he could approach Renjun, Jaemin appeared as well. He hugged both Renjun and Jeno, promising to call them to hang out whenever he had time. 

“For you.” Kun said in Korean as he stepped closer to hand Jeno the flowers. Jeno smiled and bowed his head, thanking Renjun’s oldest cousin for the flowers. 

Lucas and Kun then said they would be right back and Jeno could only assume that they were actually giving him and Renjun some privacy. Jeno kissed Renjun’s lips as soon as he got the chance to, smiling as he pulled away, “We did it, babe. We finally graduated!” 

Renjun nodded and looked up to that Jeno could see him clearly, even with the cap on, Jeno could see the look in Renjun’s eyes. But he couldn’t quite make out what that look meant. 

“Jeno, I made my decision...” Renjun’s started off, his voice full of an emotion that Jeno couldn’t understand in the midst of the loud and clamorous auditorium.  

Jeno’s heart nearly stopped at Renjun’s words. He knew that whatever Renjun decided on would affect him for the rest of his life. He waited in silence for Renjun to tell him what he was going to choose.  

Was he going to choose his family? Or would he choose Jeno?  

 

. 

. 

. 

 

There are two endings.  

Proceed to  **Chapter Two** :   _a collapsing star with tunnel vision_ , if you wish for Renjun to choose his family. 

Proceed to  **Chapter Three** :  _i_ _am just the planets spinning around you_ , if you wish for Renjun to choose Jeno. 


	2. a collapsing star with tunnel vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renjun chooses his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title is from fall out boy's the last of the real ones
> 
> 07/23/2019: edited some spacing errors that were caused when i copy-pasted this from word! happy noren day!

“I have to choose my family, Jeno. I’m sorry.” Renjun finally said, tears in his eyes as he announced it.  

Jeno felt his heart drop at Renjun’s decision as his own tears started to form. Renjun immediately threw himself onto Jeno, wrapping his arms around his neck as he held him close to him.  

“I’m so sorry. I love you so much, but this is something I have to do.” Renjun continued on to say and even though Jeno couldn’t see his face, he could hear how broken Renjun was speaking.  

“Renjun, I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. You can’t leave me.” Jeno nearly begged as his desperation grew stronger. He felt Renjun’s arms loosen around his neck but he quickly grabbed Renjun’s hands, holding them within his own. 

“I have to, Jeno. You know I do.” Renjun sighed, staring down at their hands with a sad smile on his face. 

Jeno shook his head, the grip on Renjun’s hands growing tighter, “No, you don’t! You don’t... you don’t...”  

“I’ll come back to you.” Renjun declared, pulling his hands away from Jeno’s to cup his cheeks. He tiptoed up to kiss Jeno’s forehead before moving his lips down to kiss him on the lips. It was a bittersweet kiss, but Jeno couldn’t bring himself to break away from it. 

“Give me three years and I promise I will come back to you.” Renjun promised, but it did little to calm Jeno down. He wiped away the tears that had already fallen, but he wasn’t able to hold back a choked sob.  

Renjun kissed away Jeno’s tears, “Mother is forcing me to go back home with her tonight. Lucas ge and Kun ge will get my stuff, okay? I paid for six more months of the rent for you.” 

Renjun’s words fell upon deaf ears, as Jeno just kept shaking his head to ignore everything he was saying. 

“Keep y-your money. I don’t w-want to take it away from y-you.” Jeno hiccupped through his words, wincing at how vulnerable he sounded.  

“Babe, just keep it. Please.” Renjun urged as a frown started to form on his face, “You’ll have to move out after six months, but this was the least I could do after deciding this so late.” 

“I love you so much...” Jeno whimpered as he embraced Renjun once more, holding him so tight as if it was the last time he would be able to. 

“I love you too.” Renjun pressed a soft kiss to Jeno’s temple. 

“Will I be able to talk to you at all?” Jeno asked, leaning his forehead against Renjun’s carefully as his arms once again found their way around his waist, just like they always did.  

Renjun hesitated before giving Jeno his answer, “I don’t know Jeno... I really don’t know.”   

Goodbyes were always the hardest for Jeno, even when he was a child. Saying goodbye to his parents and sister after being accepted into his university was difficult, but thanks to that, he was able to meet Renjun. 

Renjun, who had been a constant in his life for nearly four years was not going to leave him and Jeno wasn’t sure how he was going to manage without him. It was like he was suddenly being told that the sun was no longer going to be shining in his life and that he was going to have to live in complete darkness. Renjun was being ripped away from him and there was nothing he could possible do to prevent it from hppening.  

“I have to go. Mother is waiting for me.” Renjun said as he pulled himself out of Jeno’s embrace. He kissed Jeno’s lips one last time before stepping away from Jeno.  

“I love you so much, Jeno. Remember that.” With a sad smile and fresh tears in his eyes, Renjun said his final words to Jeno before walking away. Jeno wasn’t sure where exactly Renjun’s mother was, but it didn’t take long until he lost sight of Renjun in the crowd.  

He kept searching and scanning through the crowd, hoping to catch one last glimpse of Renjun. 

After failing to spot him, Jeno let out a sigh and stared down at the ground. In just a matter of minutes, Jeno came up with a resolution.  

He had three years.  

He was going to get Renjun back. 

 

. 

 

“Jisung, you filled out the paperwork wrong again.” 

A young man gasped and rushed over to his supervisor’s desk to inspect the paperwork. 

“This is the second time this week. You’re lucky I check over your paperwork before I handed it to Taeil hyung,” The supervisor continued on, smiling a bit at how worried the young intern was. 

“Thank you, Jeno hyung. I’ll go redo this really fast.” The intern, Park Jisung, said as he took the paperwork and returned back to his own desk to go over it again. 

Jeno let out a sigh and made a mental note to go over the paperwork together with Jisung next time. They couldn’t make any mistakes when it came to the patents their equipment needed to ensure that their designs were not replicated by others.  

After graduating, Jeno was able to find a job fairly quickly as a biomedical engineer. He worked as an intern at first, helping the higher ups with random paperwork and other miscellaneous things before getting promoted after a year on the job. He was able to move up in the ranks and three years later, he was now a supervisor at the same company that offered him his first job. 

Now, he was part of the designing committee of the company. He, along with a few others, designed medical equipment for hospitals to use with their patients. From gurneys to imagining machines, Jeno worked on them all. He was able to make quite a bit of money doing this job and it was something he was good at, so he was content with himself. 

At 25 years old, Jeno was living a comfortable life.  

However, a part of him was still missing. 

Renjun was still in China and from Jeno’s weekly (daily) internet searches, he could tell that Renjun had made a name for himself in his homeland. His designs were one of a kind and Jeno even recognized some of them from when he would flip through Renjun’s old sketchbook. He had chosen a pseudonym to go by, in order to separate himself from his mother, but it wasn’t long until the media found out that the famous designer, Lihua, was actually his mother. 

Renjun, under the pseudonym _Wangzi_ , also wore a realistic fox mask whenever he was out in public. He never once revealed his face, not even at his own fashion shows.  

Which meant that it had been three years since Jeno had actually seen Renjun’s face and he missed him greatly.  

There were no phone calls and no letters, which Jeno had expected.  

He had been able to meet up with Lucas one day when the older man had visited Korea for business. Apparently, Renjun’s mother kept a tight leash on her son and she watched his every move. She had mentioned time and time again that Renjun had a role to fill in the family and that role was more important than anything else in the world. 

In other words, she was saying that his role in the family was more important than Jeno.  

Jeno tried not to think about Renjun often because it would only break his heart more, but there were some nights when the only person he could think of was Renjun. He missed Renjun’s smile, the way his eyes would light up at the sight of him, and his kisses.  

He knew in his heart that he was never going to love anyone except for Renjun.  

“Hey, Jeno. There’s someone downstairs that wants to see you.” Jeno’s manager, Moon Taeil, said as he walked by Jeno’s desk. The young supervisor blinked and let out a soft noise of surprise. He never got visitors at work. 

So he left his desk and made his way over to the elevator located on his floor. He was curious about the visitor because he was sure his friends were busy with their own jobs at this time of day. Another possibility that it was his mother or father, but they lived too far from where he worked to visit him. 

Once the elevator reached the lobby, Jeno quickly stepped out to look for who it may be that was waiting for him. 

“Jeno! Jeno!” A familiar voice called out from near the entrance of the lobby. Jeno’s eyes widened at the familiar voice that he hadn’t heard in three years. 

“Yuta hyung?” Jeno gasped, seeing the football player lounging around in one of the couches in the lobby. Yuta looked different from the last time Jeno had seen him. Now his hair was a dark brown with yellow streaks in it, but he still had the same bright smile as he did three years ago. 

The football player stood up from his seat and gave Jeno a quick hug before flashing his smile at him, “Long time no see, kid. I’m glad I was able to find you so easily.”  

“Who told you I was working here?” Jeno asked, still surprised to see the Japanese young man in front of him. 

“Eh? Sicheng, of course. He heard it from Lucas, who had said something about it once before.” Yuta explained, laughing at Jeno’s baffled expression. 

“Anyways, I’m here to invite you out to dinner with me and Johnny. We have a scrimmage match against one another tomorrow but we have enough free time today.” Yuta continued on, mentioning the Korean football player as well.  

Jeno was able to see Johnny on television from time to time and unfortunately for him, he had forgotten to get the goal keeper’s autograph when he had first met him. Mark held a grudge about it and would never fail to mention it whenever they were watching a football game together.  

“I’m free later tonight, if that works for you guys.” Jeno replied, feeling actually excited to be able to spend some time with Yuta and Johnny again.  

Yuta smiled and pat Jeno on the shoulder, “Perfect! Let’s meet at this restaurant that just opened up.”  

After exchanging numbers with one another, Yuta left the lobby so that Jeno could get back to work. Jeno only had a few hours left on his shift and he worked through them with a smile on his face, looking forward to dinner.  

The intern, Jisung, kept staring at Jeno as he continued to run some errands for Jeno. Even the manager Taeil could see that Jeno was in a pleased mood, so he even let the supervisor off early from his shift.  

Jeno drove straight home after he was let out of work. He now lived in an apartment that was about a fifteen minute drive from his work.  

“Oh, you’re back early?” Jeno heard his neighbor’s familiar voice as he got out of his car after parking it in its spot.  

Kim Jungwoo was the young man that lived in the apartment next to Jeno’s and the two were close only because they had a small age gap between one another. Jungwoo was only two years older than Jeno and he was like the older brother Jeno always needed. 

“Yeah, the manager let me out early today. I’ve got a dinner to attend later though.” Jeno said as he and Jungwoo entered the building.  

Jungwoo gasped, “You’re going on a date?! For the first time since you moved in?!” 

Jeno winced at Jungwo exclamation and he quickly shook his head. Jungwoo always asked him if he was ever going to start dating again, but he couldn’t bring himself to even try. 

“No, some old friends of mine are visiting.” Jeno clarified, trying not to laugh at Jungwoo’s immediate disappointed expression.  

“Have a nice time for dinner then!” Jungwoo said as he got to his own apartment. He waved goodbye to Jeno, who waved back before entering his apartment.  

After taking a glance at his watch, Jeno realized that he still had about two hours until he needed to meet Yuta and Johnny at the restaurant, so he took the time to actually choose a decent outfit to wear. He was going to be dining with two famous football players, after all, so he didn’t want to look like a mess. 

He took an unnecessary amount of time to decide on an outfit and just as he finished getting ready, he received a text from Yuta. He read over it quickly and saw that the restaurant that he had suggested was actually located very close to where he lived.  

Jeno was able to walk to the restaurant, arriving right on time. Yuta and Johnny arrived moments later and much to Jeno’s surprise, no one seemed to recognize them. Johnny smiled as he hugged Jeno, treating him like an old friend.  

They entered the restaurant and were seated almost immediately. The restaurant served Japanese and Korean food, so it was perfect for the three to dine at.  

They talked about how life had been going for them in the last few years. Jeno was happy to talk about his career and what he was doing with his life and listening to the stories coming from the football players was quite interesting as well. They were both busy traveling whenever it was football season.  

“How is Sicheng doing?” Johnny asked when they were halfway finished with their meal. Jeno nodded his head as well, interested in how Yuta’s now husband was doing. 

“He’s adjusted to Japan, I think. I got him a Japanese teacher to help him out and all he watches in anime when he’s at home, so the language isn’t really a problem.” Yuta said as a loving smile appeared on his face at the mention of his husband.  

“What’s he doing now?” Jeno found himself asking, curious about the former performer’s current occupation. 

“Believe it or not, he actually teaching dance to young children in Japan.” Yuta answered before continuing on, “Oh, Sicheng actually told me something about Renjun.” 

Jeno stuttered at the sound of Renjun’s name, “W-What did he tell you?” 

“His mother is making him go out on dates with suitors, but apparently he’s been treating them all horribly and doesn’t ask for a second date.” Yuta couldn’t help the smile on his face when he saw relief evident on Jeno’s face.  

Jeno’s heart pounded in his chest at what Yuta had said about Renjun. Even though his mother was still trying to set him up, it seemed as if Renjun was opposed to being in a relationship. 

Was it because he wanted to focus on his career? 

Or was it because Jeno was waiting for him? 

Before Jeno could become too caught up in his own thoughts, Johnny had changed the subject and the three started talking about other things instead.  

By the end of dinner, Jeno was stuffed with food. It was a battle to figure out who would pay, but in the end it was Yuta who paid for the meal. They all made a promise to meet up again and before Johnny left, Jeno made sure to get his autograph for Mark.  

On the walk back to his apartment, Jeno couldn’t help himself but start thinking of Renjun again.  He wished he could have ask Yuta more questions, but he didn’t want to bombard the football player with questions that he may not know the answer to.  

He wondered what Renjun’s mother would do if one day Jeno just showed up in China with the intention of taking Renjun back to Korea with him. There was no way he wasn’t good enough now, not after he was living a comfortable life with a great career.  

He missed Renjun so much. 

But it was almost three years since he had last seen Renjun, three years since he last had him in his arms.  

He was willing to wait forever for him. 

 

. 

 

The next morning, Jeno let out a yawn as he settled himself into his seat at his desk. He normally wasn’t this tired at work, since he valued sleep more than anything else, but he wasn’t able to sleep well the night before.  

“Hyung, you okay?” Jisung said as stopped by Jeno’s desk.  

Jeno smiled at the intern and nodded his head, “Didn’t get enough sleep last night, but it’s alright.” 

“Oh, hyung, can I ask you to do a favor for me?”  

Jeno nodded, not minding doing a favor for the young intern. Jisung was very much like a younger brother to Jeno and he knew that he could rely on the intern for any miscellaneous task at work. They ate lunch together often and formed a bond quite quickly compared to his other co-workers.  

“I have a friend coming to visit me, but I don’t have a car to pick him up from the airport. Do you think you can come pick him up with me? He lands tomorrow night.” Jisung asked with excitement evident in his voice. There was no way Jeno was going to deny such a simple favor, so he agreed almost instantly. Jisung thanked him with a bow before returning back to his desk in order to finish a task the manager had given him. 

The rest of Jeno’s day continued on as it normally would. He finished all of his paperwork and was able to ask Taeil to check over it before he left. Even though everything went along with his routine, Jeno was starting to feel like his life was a bit boring. All he did was go to work and then return home every day. He was able to hang out with his friends on the weekends sometimes, if they were all free, but that was about it.  

There was something missing and Jeno knew that it was Renjun. 

Before Jeno could get lost in his thoughts over his boyfriend (ex-boyfriend?), it was time for him to leave work. It felt as if he had only just arrived, but the day went by quickly for him. After saying goodbye to Jisung and a few other co-workers, Jeno returned home and followed his same routine of: cook dinner, eat dinner, shower, read, then go to bed.  

As he was in bed, he thought of what he could do to keep him busy. Maybe it was finally time for him to adopt a cat. He had always wanted one, but Renjun knew he was allergic and wouldn’t let him because he was worried about him. Taking care of a cat was easy enough, considering the fact that he wouldn’t have to take him on walks or bathe them as often like dogs. Plus, with Jeno being gone for most of the day, he needed a pet that was as low maintenance as possible.  

With the thought of cats on his mind, Jeno quickly fell asleep. He dreamed of adopting a cute white cat and how cute it would look in Renjun’s arms.  

 

. 

 

Ever since he graduated from college, Jeno made it a habit to wake up at seven in the morning, regardless of it he had work or not. He had realized that sleeping in was no longer an option now that he was an adult and needed to work. If he didn’t have to get ready for work, he would still wake up at seven and would either tidy up his apartment or run errands.  

So when Jeno woke up the next morning at eight, instead of his usual seven o’clock, his whole day was thrown off.  

Somehow, he had managed to sleep through his three alarms. Though he wasn’t necessarily late for work, he still had to rush a bit to shower and get ready. He wasn’t able to pick out what dress shirt he wanted to wear, so he just picked the first one he saw and threw it on as fast as he could. He also didn’t have enough time to sit down and eat breakfast, so he had to just to just grab quick. An apple would have to suffice for his breakfast.  

Amazingly enough, Jeno managed to clock in at work one minute before his shift was supposed to start. There was a bit of traffic on his way to work, but it wasn’t enough to make him late.  

“This is the first time I have ever seen you walk in this late.” Taeil noted once Jeno was at his desk. Jeno just smiled at his manager and let out a nervous chuckle. He couldn’t tell if Taeil was upset or not. 

“Yeah, I normally wake up early, but today was been so weird.” Jeno explained, scratching the back of his head. Something felt incredible off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why he was feeling that way.  

Taeil shrugged, “Maybe the universe is telling you something.”  

That explanation made little sense, but Jeno just went along with it because it was his manager that said it. Taeil walked away soon after that and Jeno let out a sigh of relief. Jisung walked into the office a moment later and the young intern seemed to be in a particularly good mood. It must have been because he would be able to meet his friend soon. 

He wondered who this friend was. Jisung had never mentioned any close friends that lived abroad, but then again Jeno didn’t know much about Jisung except he had recently moved from California, where he had earned his engineering degree.  

Luckily for Jeno, his shift went by as usual with no sudden surprises. After how his morning had went, Jeno wouldn’t have been surprised if something bad happened at work, but nothing happened to him at all. Everything felt normal.  

As soon as work was over, Jisung was by Jeno’s desk with his stuff all together and a smile on his face. Jeno couldn’t help but smile back, “Really excited to see your friend?” 

“Yeah, it’s been a couple years since we saw each other, but we kept in touch. Still not the same as seeing him in person though.” Jisung replied with a skip in his step as the two made their way out of the office.  

Jeno had given Jisung a ride a few times before, so the intern already knew which car in the parking lot to walk to. They both got into the car once it was unlocked and started their drive to the airport. The ride to the airport was fairly quiet, minus the fact that Jisung kept tapping his fingers on the hard plastic of the car door. Jeno could tell that Jisung was a bit nervous about meeting his friend, even if he was excited to meet him. 

The airport was fairly far from their office, so it did take about twenty minutes to get there. It was packed with people that had landed from their flights, so Jisung suggested to park in the parking garage and meet with his friend at the arrival terminal. Jeno agreed and was luckily able to find a spot to park fairly quickly, so it didn’t take long until the two were standing amongst the crowd at the arrival terminal.  

From what Jeno could hear from the arriving passengers around him, it seemed as if the flight had just landed from China. He could hear bits and pieces of Mandarin being spoken around him. It had been so long since he had heard the language so he could understand very little.  

Yet another reminder of Renjun, who he tried desperately to forget about for the time being, but it seemed as if the entire universe was trying to tell Jeno either to move on or to get him back. 

“Hyung, I see him!” Jisung exclaimed abruptly. The sudden outburst caused Jeno to flinch but he just looked through the crowd, hoping to spot Jisung’s friend even though he had no idea what he even looked like.  

This was probably the worst time to ask, but Jeno was curious, “What’s your friend’s name anyways?” 

“His name is _—_ Hey, over here!” Jisung started to wave his hands before he could answer Jeno’s question. Jeno just sighed and decided that he was going to have to wait until he actually met Jisung’s friend to learn more about him.  

Jeno then started to look around to see if anyone was walking towards them. The crowd was moving quickly as it seemed like everyone knew where they were going. Jeno saw a young man struggling to push his cart of luggage out of the terminal. He saw a young mother carrying her sleeping child while she also pulled her luggage. He saw Renjun smiling at him as he pulled a small suitcase behind him. Jeno even saw a group of tired flight attendants walk by, chatting amongst themselves in Mandarin. 

Suddenly, Jeno turned his head back to where he thought he saw Renjun. The same spot was empty, so he frantically looked around, hoping to see Renjun, if it even was him. More people started to arrive at the terminal, causing the crowd to become much bigger than it originally was. 

Jeno sighed, thinking that he was just hallucinating about Renjun. There was no way that he was actually back in Korea, he would have told him if he was coming back.  

The universe was really giving him too many signs lately. 

“You once said you could always spot me in a crowd, Lee Jeno. It seems like you’ve gotten rusty.” A familiar voice said from behind him. Jeno felt his breath hitch at the sound of the voice that he hadn’t heard in three years. It sounded a bit deeper than he remembered, but it still was the same person. 

“Renjun?” Jeno questioned as he turned around to face who was behind him. 

Renjun looked a bit different from the last time Jeno had seen him during their graduation. His dark brown hair was now black, but he kept it styled the same as he always did. His eyes looked so tired, but the smile on his face was bright. He looked like he lost a bit of weight, probably from the stress of working hard in the fashion industry for the last three years. 

“Are you just going to keep staring at me?” Renjun pouted. He opened his arms up and Jeno rushed forward instantly, wrapping his arms around Renjun’s smaller frame. He couldn’t help but tear up as he felt Renjun embrace him, he still couldn’t believe it.  

Jeno pulled away for a moment to take a better look at Renjun’s face, “Is this real? Are you really here in front of me?”  

Renjun laughed and nodded his head, tiptoeing up to kiss Jeno’s cheek softly.  

“I missed you so much.” Jeno couldn’t help but kiss Renjun’s forehead before leaning in once more to kiss his lips. It had been three years without a word from Renjun. Three years without being able to hold Renjun like this.  

“I’m so sorry I had to leave, but my mother and I made a deal. If I proved myself worthy enough to her, she would let me come back.” Renjun explained as he reached a hand up to caress Jeno’s cheek.  

Before Jeno had the chance to reply, he heard another familiar voice speaking beside him, “Aw, the lovebirds are finally back together.” 

He turned and saw Chenle, Renjun’s younger cousin that he had met three years ago. Jisung was standing beside him with a smile on his face. 

“Jisung, your friend was Chenle?” Jeno questioned, raising an eyebrow at the younger two.  

Jisung nodded, “We went to the same university in California. Sorry hyung, I knew Renjun hyung was going to come back but I couldn’t tell you.”  

“You knew?!” Jeno exclaimed, not feeling angry but feeling very surprised.  

Renjun gently pat his arm, “Don’t get mad at him! He was always complaining to Chenle about how hard it was to keep the secret from you since you guys work together.” 

Jeno just let out a sigh, knowing that Jisung probably struggled with keeping a secret this big from him. He then felt Renjun hold his hand, so he looked over and saw that he had a small smile on his face. Jeno interlaced their fingers together and he could feel how Renjun’s hand still fit perfectly in his own. 

“We have a lot to talk about.” Jeno said as the four started to leave the terminal. Chenle and Jisung were walking ahead, quite excited to be reunited again. Jeno and Renjun walked a bit slower with their steps in tandem with one another.  

“I know, but I have one thing I need to tell you, Jeno.” Renjun stopped walking, causing Jeno to stop as well. Chenle and Jisung didn’t seem to notice and they just continued walking ahead of them. 

Jeno tilted his head, waiting for whatever Renjun had to say. He had a feeling that it was important, since it couldn’t wait until the two were back at Jeno’s apartment. 

Renjun smiled up at Jeno, showing off the small dimple Jeno had missed so much, “I love you, Jeno.” 

Again, Jeno felt tears come to his eyes as he heard Renjun’s confession. It had been so long since he heard it.  

“I love you too, Renjun.” Jeno quickly wiped his tears away before pressing his lips against Renjun’s once more. He wasn’t going to let anyone take Renjun away from him ever again. 

Renjun was finally home. 

 

 


	3. i am just the planets spinning around you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renjun chooses Jeno.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title is from fall out boy's the last of the real ones
> 
> also i may write little drabbles about this au that focus on other characters... sicheng's life in japan... chenle and jisung being college students in california... how ten and kun met... but only if people are interested!!! just let me know.. hehe 
> 
> and i just wanna say thank you so much to everyone that has read this!!!
> 
> 07/23/2019: edited some spacing errors that were caused when i copy-pasted this from word! happy noren day!

“I’m staying here with you, Jeno. I can’t go back to China.” Renjun finally said after a moment of silence. Jeno couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“Renjun, you’re going to get disowned. Are you sure you want that?” Jeno said softly as he stepped closer to Renjun, wrapping an arm around his waist as he used his other hand to caress his cheek. He could tell that Renjun was close to tears and tried his best to comfort him. 

“I c-can’t leave you behind. I don’t want to leave.” Renjun hiccupped as his tears finally escaped his eyes. Jeno sighed and let his boyfriend cry into his chest, even though he knew it would probably get on his graduation gown. 

After a few more moments of crying, Renjun pulled away from the hug and wiped the tears out of his eyes. He looked over to where his mother and cousins were waiting and could see that his mother was growing impatient.  

“Can you wait here as I talk to them?” Renjun said softly, looking up at Jeno, who nodded and pressed a soft kiss to Renjun’s forehead before letting him walk over to his family.  

He kept his eyes on Renjun as he walked over to his mother, who was waiting with a small frown on her face. Jeno watched the interaction from afar, but was unable to read their lips in regards to what they were saying. Kun and Lucas remained silent, but Jeno could see that they both were frowning as well.  

Donghyuck appeared by Jeno’s side once more, “What’s happening?”  

“Something that could change Renjun’s life forever.” Jeno answered softly. Minutes later, Renjun’s mother abruptly left the auditorium.  Jeno could only imagine how she felt about her son’s decision. Kun and Lucas quickly said something to Renjun, both giving him hugs, before following after her.  

Renjun walked slowly back over to Jeno and Donghyuck and a sigh left his lips as soon as he reached them. 

“Mother said she’s going to stop adding money into my inheritance, but whatever I have so far is mine to keep. She wanted to kick us out of the apartment as well, since she’s paying for it, but Kun ge and Lucas ge said that they can pay for it for a few months until we both get on our feet.” Renjun let out another sigh before smiling softly at Jeno.  

“If you ever need anything, I’m here for you guys too. Mark also.” Donghyuck said, patting both Jeno and Renjun on the shoulder before getting called away by his family. 

“We’ll be fine, Renjun. I believe in us.” Jeno said, taking Renjun’s hand in his. Renjun grasped his hand tightly before interlocking their fingers together.  

They were going to be alright. 

. 

“Babe! Babe! Guess what!” Jeno exclaimed as he burst through the front door to their apartment. Renjun, who was in the middle of cooking, jumped at the sudden noise before glaring at his boyfriend. 

“Don’t do that! I could have cut my finger.” Renjun complained, watching as Jeno quickly shut the door behind him before running over to Renjun. He quickly pecked his lips before smiling widely at Renjun. 

“I have an interview with the biomedical engineering company!” Jeno announced, showing off his phone’s screen to Renjun who had to squint to read it.  

“This is the one that is offering you an internship, right?” Renjun asked, recognizing the name of the company that Jeno was showing him. They were a fairly new company, but had been in the news for being innovative with their designs for future medical equipment.  

Jeno nodded, “This is the one with the paid internship, which means we’ll be getting more income.” 

Renjun let out a sigh after being painfully reminded that he and Jeno needed to earn more money to survive. After graduation, his mother truly did cut him out. It had been six months since then and his mother no longer added any money to his inheritance. 

Jeno didn’t want to touch the money that was already saved, saying that it should only be used for emergencies. Instead, he applied to as many companies as he could in order to find a job. Unfortunately, there weren’t many that were willing to pay an intern, so Jeno was left unemployed ever since graduation. Renjun, on the other hand, was only able to find a job at a local seamstress shop. He worked on simple tasks, such as tailoring and repairing torn clothes. It was an easy job, so he didn’t really mind it at all. He just wished he made more money. 

“When’s the interview?” Renjun asked, returning his attention to what he was cooking. Jeno wrapped his arms around Renjun’s waist from behind and placed his chin on his shoulder, watching his boyfriend cook.  

“Tomorrow afternoon. I might be home late, but didn’t you say you were going to close at the shop tomorrow?” Jeno questioned, placing a soft kiss on Renjun’s neck. 

Renjun hummed and nodded his head, remembering that he had picked up a longer shift at work. They still needed to pay the rent for this month and he wanted to contribute as much as he could. 

It had been six months since they had graduated and they were struggling quite a bit. Lucas and Kun offered to help pay for a year’s worth of rent, but Renjun insisted that they only pay for four months. He didn’t want to use their money.  

The shop he was working at was nice, but fairly busy. Since he was one of the younger employees, he spent a lot of time in the front desk talking to the customers. It was a seamstress shop that was popular in the neighborhood and it was even walking distance to their apartment, which saved them some money too.  

Kun was nice enough to have Renjun’s car sent over from China, but he and Jeno rarely used it because they didn’t want to have to pay to charge it. They would use it on special occasions, like when Jeno wanted to visit his parents or the two went on a fancy date. Jeno wanted to drive it as well, but Renjun felt more comfortable when he himself was the one behind the wheel.  

Jeno really wasn’t the greatest driver and Renjun wasn’t sure how he even managed to get his license. 

“I’m gonna go take a shower and then practice for the interview. Call me when dinner is ready?” Jeno asked before kissing Renjun’s cheek this time. He then walked out of the kitchen and to the bathroom, leaving Renjun alone. 

As Renjun continued on with cooking dinner, he couldn’t help but think about his mother. Even though they were never close, he did miss her. After Renjun’s decision to stay in Korea, Kun had moved back to China with his triplets and was working with Renjun’s mother as a business partner and would occasionally message Renjun with any updates about his mother. His mother was doing fine, but after disowning Renjun she apparently tried to distract herself with taking on more work. In just the last three months, she had released five more fashion collections and was making headlines nearly every day. 

Sicheng, on the other hand, was not involved with the family at all. He had moved to Japan shortly after Renjun and Jeno left China and was trying his hardest to adjust to the new country. He and Renjun spoke often and he mentioned to Renjun that he was working as a dance instructor for children at a local studio. He still had a bit of a language barrier to get through, but he seemed to be doing well.  

Chenle returned to America after Renjun and Jeno had left as well. He was going to graduate in about three years. Renjun wasn’t sure what his plans were, but he had a feeling Chenle was going to return to China after his graduation. 

In just these few short months, Renjun’s life had changed drastically. Though he was happy with his job at the seamstress shop, he was hoping another opportunity would come to him. Something much more worth his while. But it seemed like Jeno had an amazing opportunity that could help them both out.  

Renjun would just have to wait a bit more for his own opportunity to come. 

. 

The next day, Jeno left fairly early in the morning for his interview. He woke Renjun up with a kiss on the forehead, saying that he would meet him later that night after Renjun returned home.  

After Jeno left, Renjun continued on his day like any other day. He got ready, wearing just jeans and a hoodie along with his favorite coat from Donghyuck, and made his way to work. The sun was bright in the sky, despite the fact that winter was soon approaching. 

The shop was fairly quiet once he got there and the other older workers greeted him with smiles. 

“We’ve got some pants that need to be altered. You can work on those today.” The owner, an elderly woman, said as she walked by him. Renjun nodded and walked over to his work station, where he could see a few pairs of pants neatly folded on top of the table.  

He examined the pants before getting to work, cutting off the extra fabric before altering the length of the pants. Altering pants was one of the easier tasks for him to do, so it didn’t take long until he was finished with most of the pants. As he threaded his machine for the third pair of pants, the bell of the store rang, signaling that someone had entered the shop. 

“Welcome in!” The owner said as she looked up from her work station. Renjun looked up as well, spotting a young man with short black hair and far too many piercings in his ears. He had on a fancy long coat, a brand that Renjun recognized just by the insignia on the collar. He also had on sunglasses that were too big for his face, as if he was hiding his identity.  

The owner smiled at the newcomer, “Is there something we can help you with?” 

“Do you have an employee here named Huang Renjun? He’s around twenty-two years old and Chinese?” The young man said, speaking in slightly accented Korean. Renjun raised an eyebrow at his name and stood up, walking over to where they were talking. 

“Did you need help with something?” Renjun asked, tilting his head to the side. The owner quickly excused herself, patting Renjun on the shoulder as she returned to her own work station.  

The stranger took off his sunglasses, revealing makeup covered eyes that had a mischievous glint in them, “You look just like your mother.”  

Renjuin flinched at the mention of his mother, taking a closer look at the stranger. He felt as if he recognized him, but he couldn't quite remember from where. 

“Forgive me for being rude, but who exactly are you?” Renjun asked, still trying to figure out who this was. 

“My name is Ten and I’m a designer that’s looking to recruit interns to make a breakthrough in the market.” The stranger, Ten, introduced himself with a wide smile on his face. 

Renjun gasped as he heard his name, remembering where he had recognized him from. Ten was a young designer that was featured in many magazines a few years ago. He had been to a few shows before and was famous for his amazing designs for both men and women. He was also a part of a few shows that his mother was a part of.  

“What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in years.” Renjun questioned, leading Ten out of the shop so that they could get a bit of privacy. The owner of the shop didn’t have any idea who Renjun was and Renjun wanted to keep it that way. 

“I heard from Kun about what your mother did to you and I was wondering if you would like to work for me instead.” Ten explained with a grin on his face. He resembled a Chesire cat with this grin, but Renjun could sense no malice in the smile. 

He was, however, surprised that Kun seemed to know Ten. Kun had little interest in fashion and mainly focused on running retail businesses. He wondered how Kun and Ten knew each other.  

Renjun hesitated before answering, “I don’t know if I’m considered good enough to be a designer.” 

“I don’t need you designing right off the bat, but you know how the industry works because you were practically raised in it and I believe that could help both you and me.” Ten said, explaining his intentions for Renjun.  

Renjun nodded, understanding what Ten was talking about. The industry was tough, especially for those first entering it. There were some unspoken rules that existed in the industry that designers would only learn through experience, but Renjun knew these rules thanks to his mother and his early exposure to the industry. He learned at a young age that designers need to have thick skin and face criticism with pride, or else they would never survive.  

“Just think about it, okay? Here’s my card. You can call me at any time with your answer.” Ten said as he took a business card out of his pocket. He handed it to Renjun and smiled before walking away.  

Renjun watched as the designer walked farther away from him and he let out a sigh before staring at the card in his hand. A phone number was etched into the cardstock paper along with a fancy logo of Ten’s name. 

It was definitely the opportunity that Renjun was looking for, but he wasn’t quite sure if he was ready yet. So instead, he placed the card in his wallet and went back into the shop. The owner looked at him with a curious expression on her face, but he just smiled and told her it was nothing.  

He returned to his work station and continued to work on the remaining pairs of pants, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Ten and his offer. He went through the rest of his shift deep in thought, not knowing what he should do.

He did need a better paying job, but if he were to enter the industry then there would be a chance that he would encounter his mother again. Then again, Ten did say that he was just going to need an intern and that he wouldn’t have Renjun working as a designer, so he may not even see his mother.  

The only thing Renjun could do was talk about this with Jeno, who knew him better than anything else. He was always Renjun’s voice of reason. 

He would discuss the matter with Jeno later that night. 

. 

As soon as Renjun stepped into the apartment, he found himself wrapped in his boyfriend’s arms. Jeno was already pressing kisses to Renjun’s neck, flustering the shorter boy.  

“J-Jeno!” Renjun whined, not expecting the sudden kisses.  

Jeno chuckled and kissed Renjun’s lips softly, “Sorry, I was just excited to see you.” 

“Clearly.” Renjun said, smiling at Jeno who just smiled back. 

“How did your interview go?” Renjun asked as he took his shoes off at the entrance. He looked up at Jeno, whose smile was nearly blinding and definitely cute.  

“I got the job! The manager, Moon Taeil, said that I have a lot of potential in the company because of my engineering background. I have orientation all this week.” Jeno exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Renjun once more to lift him up and spin him around. Renjun could hear the excitement in his boyfriend’s voice and he was proud of him.  

“That’s great Jeno!” Renjun praised, pressing kissing all over Jeno’s cheeks and forehead. Jeno smiled and set Renjun down carefully.  

Renjun could feel the weight of the card in his wallet, as if it was burning a hole in his pocket. He hated to ruin the moment, but there was no better time than now for him to talk about his encounter with Ten. 

“Love, I had a visitor at the shop today...” Renjun started off as he shrugged off his coat to hang by the door. Jeno raised an eyebrow and Renjun took that as a signal to keep talking. “He’s a designer and was looking for interns. He knows Kun ge and that’s how he managed to find me.”  

Renjun stepped into the kitchen with Jeno following behind him. Jeno had cooked dinner already and had prepared a plate for Renjun, so he placed the plate in the microwave to warm up. 

“So he was offering you a job?” Jeno questioned, sitting across from Renjun once he was seated at the table. 

 “Yeah, but I was hesitant because going into the industry after getting disowned feels weird, but now I’m thinking that this could be a great opportunity both for you and me.” Renjun’s voice trailed off as he pushed the food around on his plate with his chopsticks. Jeno frowned at the sight and took the chopsticks out of Renjun’s hands, using them instead to feed him.  

Renjun blushed, not used to being treated like a baby, but let Jeno feed him nonetheless. 

“I think you should take the internship, babe. I mean, it seems like he went searching for you specifically, so you must be important.” Jeno said, as he continued to feed Renjun. 

As Renjun chewed, he thought over what Jeno had said. This truly was going to be his only opportunity at the career he had been thinking about his entire life. This would help both himself and Jeno. There was no way he could avoid his mother forever, so maybe working as an intern would be helpful for him. Besides, he did major in fashion design and he would be a fool not to put his degree to work.  

“I’ll call Ten tomorrow.” Renjun answered, looking at Jeno with a wide smile on his face. 

Jeno smiled back, then handed Renjun his chopsticks so that he could continue eating. The rest of the night went by just like normal. Renjun finished eating after a few minutes and took a shower, while Jeno waited for him so that they could watch a movie in their living room. It was Jeno’s turn to pick a movie, and he picked a horror movie that had way too many jump scares for Renjun’s own liking. He spent most of the duration of the movie seated in Jeno’s lap, hiding behind the blanket they were sharing. 

Renjun knew Jeno picked that movie on purpose.

He really only watched about half of the movie, feeling too scared to peek during the scary moments. Jeno kept telling him that it wasn’t that bad, but Renjun never gave in.  

After the movie, the two started their routine before going to bed. Once they were both washed up and ready to sleep, they climbed into bed on their respective sides.  

Renjun couldn’t stop thinking about Ten and his offer and clearly Jeno could see how troubled Renjun still was, because he gently tapped Renjun’s forehead with his finger, “Your pretty face is going to develop wrinkles if you keep frowning like that.” 

“Even if I do, you’d still love me.” Renjun replied as he swatted Jeno’s hand away from his face. His boyfriend just chuckled and wrapped his arms around Renjun’s smaller frame.  

“Yeah, you’re right. I’d still love you.” 

Renjun smiled at Jeno’s response and gave him a quick peck on the lips, snuggling up closer to him to get comfortable enough to sleep. They both fell asleep in a matter of minutes, both thinking about how their lives were going to change in just a few days.  

. 

. 

. 

Years later, Renjun found himself standing outside of the venue for the year’s Fashion week in Milan. He felt his weight shift back and forth between his feet as he nervously waited for his boss to exit the taxi.

“Thank you, thank you.” Ten said, speaking English as he waved goodbye to the taxi driver. 

“Where did Irene noona and Wonpil hyung go?” Renjun asked, looking around for his fellow interns.  

“They went with the models. You know Kihyun and Minhyuk will probably get lost, considering this is their first show.” Ten answered, dusting off some imaginary dust from his shoulder. 

It had been three years since Renjun first became an intern for Ten. He had worked his way all the way to becoming Ten’s unofficial assistant, but he still kept the title of ‘intern’. They had already done countless shows together, but they were focused mainly in Korea and Thailand, which was Ten’s home country. This was the first time they were visiting Milan together. 

This was also going to be the first time Renjun would be meeting his mother at a fashion show.  

Ten purposely kept the two away from each other when he realized how troubled Renjun initially was with the idea of meeting his mother. He only participated in fashion shows that were away from China and Milan, where Renjun’s mother frequented. However, this year Ten was invited to one of the most prestigious fashion shows in the world, so he had no choice but to tell Renjun to suck it up. 

Renjun whined for days, but he knew how much the show meant to Ten, so he let it go. 

“Our portion is today, the first day and if I remember correctly, Lady Lihua is participating on the second and third day.” Ten said, using his favorite nickname for Renjun’s mother. He was actually a big fan of her designs and her ideas, so he only spoke fondly of her. Renjun really never minded how much Ten idolized his mother because he knew how talented she was. Anybody would be a fool to not admire his mother’s creations. 

“Is your plan still to have me backstage with you and Irene noona?” Renjun asked, following Ten into the building. They both had to show off a special card to prove that they were part of the event. 

“Yes, and Wonpil will be in the crowd taking some pictures for us. We’re a relatively small team, but I think we should be fine.” Ten replied once they were finally inside. There were many people bustling around as the crew worked on finishing the runway. It was quite early in the morning and Renjun was still a bit jetlagged.  

Renjun had never been to an event before it actually started, so it was interesting to see how everything came together. There were a few familiar faces walking around, some designers that Renjun met as a child and some that he met through Ten.  

The runway that was being set up was fairly long and probably one of the longest that their models have ever worked on. Renjun was sure that Kihyun and Minhyuk would be fine. On the sides of the runway were rows of seats set up for the audience and press to sit in. There were probably only one hundred seats available, but Renjun had a feeling that there were going to be many people standing as well. The photographers typically stood behind the audience in order to get clear shots.  

“Oh, have you texted your man yet? He was pestering me at the airport before we left to make sure to remind you to contact him.” Ten said as they walked towards the backstage where the crew was still setting up changing tables and rows of tables for make up artists. The show would be starting in just a few hours, so it was a surprise everything was not finished yet.  

Renjun just smiled at the mention of Jeno, “I was texting him in the taxi, but don’t worry. He’ll be fine without me for a few days.”  

Jeno had initially said he was interested in joining Renjun in Milan, but a sudden situation had come up at work and left him unable to go. He had whined for a few hours, saying that he was going to miss Renjun, but he was quickly quieted down when the older said that he would call him three times a day. They were going to be apart for four days, but that was a lot of time considering the fact that Renjun and Jeno had been together for nearly six years now.  

Ten just clicked his tongue, leading Renjun back to where they were going to be working in.  

As they worked their way back, Renjun saw more and more familiar faces flooding in. They had arrived just as other designers and teams were arriving.  

“Injun! Ten!” A voice called out to both Renjun and Ten, and the younger looked over to his right and saw another intern, Irene, waving at him. She had one of their models seated on a stool in front of her as she did his make up. The other model was busy on his phone, also seated on a stool. 

“Oh, I didn’t realize you guys were already set up. How’d you get here so fast?” Ten said, spotting the clothes that Irene had brought in. He always trusted her to bring the outfits because of his own clumsy tendency to drop things.  

He once dropped one of his special designs in a puddle that had formed before a fashion show. Even though the outfit was protected by plastic, the water still seeped through and ruined what Ten had created.  

That was another story that Renjun would never forget. 

“We went through the back door ‘cause there was less people.” Wonpil, the photographer, said as he snuck up behind Renjun and Ten. 

“Very smart! I have the best interns and models.” Ten cooed, making faces at both Wonpil and Irene, who both cringed.  

Renjun smiled and stepped away for a moment, wanting to look around a bit more. He was greeted by a few designers that had recognized him and a rush of pride filled his chest. Making a name for himself was still an uphill battle, but with time he was sure he was going to be alright. Becoming an intern for Ten was probably the best decision Renjun had made because of all of the connections he was able to form in the industry. It was only a matter of time before Renjun would become a famous designer, just like his mother. 

“Renjun?” A familiar voice spoke in Mandarin, calling Renjun’s attention.  

The young intern could recognize that voice anywhere. He quickly turned around, spotting his mother standing a few feet away from him. Her hair, which had been quite long when Renjun had last seen her, was now cut very short. It was to her shoulders, but it really only made her look younger than her true age. She was wearing a long black gown, one that Renjun recognized from her sketchbook that he had seen so many years ago. 

“Miss Lihua.” Renjun greeted politely, bowing his head to show his respect. Even if she did disown him, she was still his senior in the fashion industry. He wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to call her ‘mother’.  

Suddenly, the weight of the ring on Renjun’s fourth finger on his left hand felt quite heavy. He instinctively hid his hand behind his back, but his mother’s eyes moved fast and she just smiled curtly.  

“I was silly to think that disowning you would break you and that boy apart, wasn’t I? Well, it’s not important anymore.” His mother truly hadn’t changed at all. She still spoke in that same confident tone of voice Renjun had heard his entire life.

“Good luck on the show, Renjun.” Was all Renjun’s mother said as she walked away from him. Renjun sighed, realizing that his mother was as stubborn as ever. The only way for him to get through to her was going to have to be through the industry.  

He was going to do his best to succeed. 

After all, he had Jeno by his side and that was all he needed. 


	4. not an update, just a note

just wanted to write a quick note and say that i’ve been working on other fics that surround the other characters that were in this fic/universe

you can find the fics in this series [here](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1371373)!

thank you!! also happy noren day!!

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a kudo and/or a comment! it would be greatly appreciated ♡


End file.
